Polls open in historic British vote on EU

London : Millions of Britons began voting Thursday in a bitterly-fought, knife-edge referendum that could tear up the island nation's EU membership and spark the greatest emergency of the bloc's 60-year history.

A record 46.5 million voters have registered to decide on Britain's future in the 28-nation European Union, which was born out of a determination to forge lasting peace in the continent after the carnage of two world wars.

The once-in-a-generation referendum asks: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

Each voter must draw a cross by one of two options:

- "Remain a member of the European Union"

- "Leave the European Union"

As voters in a rain-swept London headed to polling stations, world financial markets were in suspense over the result.

With no exit polls under way, the result is unlikely to begin emerging before about 0300 GMT Friday.

On the eve of the historic referendum, two polls -- both conducted over the Internet -- put the "Leave" camp ahead by one or two percentage points, well within the margin of error.

In one telephone poll, however, "Remain" took a notable lead of 48 percent, ahead of "Leave" on42 percent with the rest undecided, according a survey by ComRes for the Daily Mail and ITV News.

Financial institutions are reinforcing teams to cope with the prospect of frantic trading through the day and the world's leading central banks say they are ready to react to any eventuality.