However an Opinium survey released on Wednesday showed Leave nudging ahead at 51 percent to Remain’s 49 percent while ComRes gave Remain an eight point lead at 54 percent to 46 percent backing Brexit.
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Pro-Leave Tories including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove signed a letter to Mr Cameron urging him to stay on as leader whatever the result of the referendum.
CAMERON’S FATE The Leave campaign focused on warnings that Britain would be unable to control immigration levels as long as it was an European Union member.
Mandy Suthi, a student interviewed by the Evening Standard, said that if she could, she would go back to the polling station and change her vote to Remain.
The top five most well-paid areas in Britain were all in west London – places such as Westminster and Richmond – and they all voted to stay in the EU.
There were reports of high turnout in many parts of the country – a factor which had been predicted by some experts to favour a Remain vote.
“If the prime minister loses this I don’t see how he can survive as prime minister”, said Scottish National Party lawmaker Alex Salmond.
He says he will resign by the time of the Conservative party conference in the fall.
In it they wrote: “We believe whatever the British people decide you have both a mandate and a duty to continue leading the nation implementing our policies”.
The pound’s steep reversal from a 2016 high above $1.50 reflected extremely choppy and illiquid trading conditions, but also deep nervousness over the high degree of uncertainty that a Brexit vote would likely entail.
Five London polling stations opened late as staff struggled to get there, and two closed briefly because of flooding but were re-opened in back-up locations.
The result from North Warwickshire also showed a much stronger turnout for Leave than many expected.
‘This has resulted in a surge in buying interest for the pound sterling and a relief rally for battered financials (banks, insurance) and house builders as investors price in a lower probability of event risk attached to a United Kingdom exit from the European Union.
However, a significant percentage (16.85 per cent) of those who fell into the “Don’t Know” category in the study last month were expected to hold the key to the results.
In a departure from the norm, no major broadcasters had commissioned any exit polls over concerns about accuracy.
Financial traders seemed to be betting on a Remain vote, sending the value of sterling to a 2016 high against the dollar on Thursday morning. A victory for “out” could unleash turmoil on financial markets.
But the phone poll of 1,032 people on June 17-22 also underlined the confusion among voters as 11 per cent of people said they were still undecided. Voting stopped at 2200 GMT and the counting of votes has started in 382 local areas, across 12 regions.
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A vote to stay would come as a massive relief to Britain’s 27 European Union partners, who had feared the departure of the bloc’s second biggest economy would weaken Europe’s global clout and fuel the rise of eurosceptic movements in other countries, Reuters noted.
