Late on Thursday Pat Ritchie, chief executive of Newcastle City Council, declared the result with 65,404 people backing Remain but 63,598 people voting to Leave. A same-day poll conducted by YouGov found that 52 percent of respondents favored remaining in the European Union. The official result gave the campaign 55.3 percent of the vote.
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Elsewhere in the country prosperous areas that had been expected to remain voted to leave – Canterbury, Milton Keynes, Coventry.
Both the pro- and anti-exit camps have bagged more than 10,000 million votes while the required figure is 16.3 million.
Student George Smith, a supporter of “Britain Stronger IN Europe”, campaigns in the lead up to the European Union referendum at Holborn in London, Britain June 20, 2016.
But queues appear to have subsided by 9.30am, with most people enjoying a cold drink in the nearby pub rather than waiting in line.
The first handful of results from London districts also showed some comfortable wins for Remain.
Polls close at 10 p.m., but the future of Britain’s relationship with the European Union will come in during a frantic three-hour period on Friday, between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Several months ago, the Leave campaign didn’t have much hope that they could get anywhere close in a short campaign.
“The poll, carried out by YouGov, shows the Remain side is set to win the referendum, with 52% of those asked backing the United Kingdom staying in the EU”.
“It is too early for anyone to fully analyse why the country voted the way it did last night – but one thing is obvious”.
The mostly conservative Vote Leave platform and the far-right UK Independence Party (UKIP) had lobbied for a Brexit, arguing that this was the only way to protect Britain’s sovereignty.
The pound had risen following early polls which suggested a victory for the Remain campaign but after the first two North East results it fell from 1.49 against the dollar to 1.43 as faith in a victory for Remain were immediately dented.
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Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the awful weather in the London area may deter “soft” Remain voters from attending polling stations, claiming that supporters of the Leave side cared more about the issues at stake.
