Jenny Watson will hold the future of Britain and perhaps Europe in her hands tomorrow

AS THE votes are counted around the United Kingdom and Gibraltar, so the details will be transmitted to the Electoral Commission and at about 8am on Friday June 24, Jenny Watson chairman of the Electoral Commission and the referendum’s chief counting officer at Manchester Town Hall – although no physical counting of ballot papers is taking place there -will be advised of the result which she will then announce to the public at large.

The 52-year-old partner of a former labour councillor lives in London and has spent more than 20 years working in the public sector in both charities and ‘quangos’ and is a former chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission.

Many will await excitedly for the finding of exit polls which will not be revealed until after voting has finished and no doubt much will be made of the polls on rival TV stations in the hours leading up to the first results being revealed.

In the event that the actual count is very close between those who wish to leave and those who wish to remain then there will have to be a recount of all votes so that an eventual ‘winner’ can be announced.

Conspiracy theorists suggest that if the amalgamation of the votes from the various counting stations around the UK and Gibraltar are to be communicated electronically to a central agency to allow for the announcement to be made in Manchester, then there is the possibility that ‘agents’ of any number of ‘interested parties’ or indeed hackers out for just a bit of fun, could try to manipulate the figures!

In just a few hours’ time, the most important result for generations will truly be worthy of the famous 1966 world cup quote from Kenneth Wolstenhome ‘They think it’s all over. It is now’ which will be totally apt for both the referendum and the political careers of a number of hitherto prominent politicians.