Brexit referendum result: The leave cause confirmed as David Cameron faces resignation

Cameron’s fundamental mistake was to legitimise the Out cause
by putting the option on the ballot paper Getty Images

David Cameron wanted to unite UK but the referendum has shown how divided Britain is.

When David Cameron called the referendum, his aim was to win a decisive majority for Remain to settle the EU issue and give himself the space to implement his legacy agenda of One Nation reforms to improve people’s life chances.

Instead, in a savage irony, the referendum exposed starkly divided nation with respect to EU membership. The results show the gulf between between a liberal metropolitan class and working class people worried about immigration; between those doing well from globalisation and those "left behind" and not seeing the benefits in jobs or wages; between Scotland and England; between London and the rest of England; between young and older voters and between the well and less well educated. And, of course, a nation split down the middle on the issue of EU membership.

The result will almost certainly spell the end of Mr Cameron's premiership

Nigel Farage said the Prime Minister
should resign 'immediately' EPA

Britain is to leave the European Union after a nearly half a century plunging the country into unchartered political and economic territory and almost certainly spelling the end of David Cameron’s premiership.

With almost all the results declared voters backed Brexit by a margin of 52 to 48 per cent.

The outcome is also likely to spark a second independence referendum in Scotland that, unlike England and Wales, voted to remain in the EU.

By voting to stay in the EU Scotland “made a clear” statement that it saw its future as part of the European Union.

Nigel Farage said Mr Cameron should resign “immediately”, while Labour also said that he should “consider his position”.

Nigel Farage said: 'Let today be our independence day'

Markets reacted with alarm to the vote with the pound plunging against the dollar to levels not seen in more than thirty years. The FTSE was predicted to fall by around ten per cent.

But Gisela Stuart, the Labour chairwoman of Vote Leave, called for calm. “In the long run both Europe and the United Kingdom will emerge stronger as a result,” she said.

One city analyst described the vote as "one of the biggest market shocks of all time".

The former Liberal Democrat leader tweeted “God help our country”. The German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said it was a “sad day for Europe”.

The unofficial result was confirmed just after 4.40am in the morning after a surge in support for leaving the EU confounded predictions made just hours before polls closed.

Middle England joined forces with the country’s industrial heartlands of the North East and North West to comprehensively reject warnings of economic Armageddon and vote to leave.

Support for remain was strongest in London and Scotland but with cities like Sheffield and Birmingham joining with Canterbury, Torbay and Peterborough in favour of Brexit momentum drifted away from the remain camp.

The result will now trigger a formal process of British withdrawal from the European Union. A planned meeting of European leaders next week in Brussels will now become an emergency Brexit summit.

The Ukip leader Nigel Farage claimed victory saying “dawn was breaking on an independent United Kingdom”. Provocatively he said he hoped the vote would be a catalyst for the complete collapse of the European Union.

The polling expert Professor John Curtice said Labour supporters appeared to have defied pleas from their party to support Britain’s membership of the EU – tipping the scales in favour of Brexit.

With 374 out of 382 local authority areas declared the Leave campaign had won 52 per cent of the vote compared to 48 per cent for remain. Around one million votes separated the two sides with a turnout of over seventy per cent,

“This is a seismic moment for our country,” said the former shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna.

“It will be catastrophic for Britain. It is just so, so terrible,” said Keith Vaz the chairman of the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

But Andrea Leadsom, the Tory Energy Minister and Vote Leave supporter said the dire predictions of economic doom did not need to come to pass.

POST A COMMENT Please share your thoughts in the comment box below:

Reason people, businesses don't make profit is because they don't advertise. Find out how you can reach your target audience & Learn how to boost your income from your web pages