MarkCarney

Indefinitely so long as you have equity in the account to cover funding costs and mark-to-market P&L. You pay commission via the spread if a spread bet/CFD, an amount of cash if buying the shares. You will receive dividends net of withholding tax. If you don't need the leverage and have a long time horizon, dealing in the physical shares vs spread bet/CFD is normally cheaper and less stressful. If you are using leverage, think very carefully before gearing up more than x2.