THE EU Referendum is the most important vote in a generation - and the North-East will be among the first areas to announce its decision.

Although the polls close at 10pm on Thursday evening, and the first results are expected shortly after midnight, the nation's final decision won't be known until Friday morning.

  • Don't miss our live coverage of the EU referendum counts in the North-East here on the Northern Echo website throughout the night on June 23

The Northern Echo:

Polling stations will open for business from 7am and voting closes at 10pm. Following problems at some polling stations during the 2010 General Election, anyone still queuing at 10pm will still be allowed to cast their vote.

When the polls close the ballot boxes will be sealed. The boxes, along with any last minute postal votes handed in to polling stations, will be collected and transported to a local counting centre.

Ballot papers will be verified by counting the number of ballot papers in each ballot box and the number of unused and spoilt ballot papers. This will be reconciled with the ballot paper account from the polling station to ensure all ballot papers are accounted for.

The UK has been divided into 382 counting areas, one for each local government area in Great Britain. Once all the votes have been counted, and doubtful papers adjudicated, the counting officer will send the result to the regional counting officer.

The regional counting officer will collate the local totals into one regional total. The North-East's regional counting centre is based in Sunderland, while Yorkshire and Humberside will report in to Leeds.

When the regional counting officer is satisfied a local result is accurate they will approve the figures and make an official declaration. Once regional authorisation is received, the local counting officer will be able to declare at the same time.

Sunderland - usually the first to declare at a General Election - is expected to be one of the first areas to announce its result shortly after midnight, prompting a flurry of interest among pundits looking for clues to the referendum's result. As ever, the turnout is likely to be hugely important with a high turnout likely to benefit the 'Remain' camp.

Newcastle and Hartlepool are expected to make their announcements before 1.30am, but the majority will come during a frantic period of counting between 2am and 4.30am.

The North-East result is seen as a national barometer of the UK's will because so much hinges on whether Labour voters are convinced by Jeremy Corbyn's argument that Britain is better off in the EU.

The national result will be declared by Jenny Watson, the chairman of the Electoral Commission and the referendum’s chief counting officer at Manchester Town Hall. They will only declare the national referendum result once all regional totals and the total for Northern Ireland have been approved and declared.

Although the result is expected to be incredibly close, the referendum rules do not provide for a national recount to be carried out in any circumstances. Any request for a recount of votes will be at local count level and it will be up to the local counting officer to decide.

The electoral reform commission, which is overseeing the count, said: "Local recounts will be granted if a specific issue has been identified with the process in that counting area, rather than simply when the local totals are close."

The national referendum result is only subject to challenge by way of judicial review which must be lodged within six weeks of the vote.