With Prime Minister David Cameron expected to address the nation from Downing Street before financial markets opened, Labour said he should “seriously consider his position”, while Mr Farage said he should resign immediately after voters rejected his passionately-expressed advice to stay in the EU.
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U.K. Independent Party leader Nigel Farage told Sky news “it looks like “remain” will edge it” in the referendum on whether to stay in the 28-nation bloc. The stage was set for a nerve-wracking night of ballot-counting after a day of high turnout and foul weather.
High turnout is expected to boost the “remain” vote, because “leave” supporters are thought to be more motivated.
Forecasts indicate a win for the Leave camp with more than half the voting areas declared in the historic European Union referendum.
Sterling surged to a 2016 high against the United States dollar yesterday after an opinion poll suggested Britons have voted to keep the country in the European Union, a relief for investors who had feared a Brexit would trigger market uncertainty and volatility.
Sterling had hit 1.50 dollars shortly after polls closed at 10pm on Thursday, but as Leave votes flooded in in increasing numbers the strength of sterling plummeted.
Results are starting to come in from the Midlands, Yorkshire and Humber or London and South East of England, where voting was disrupted by flash flooding.
With opinion polls suggesting the result was on a knife edge, nearly half of voters would be disappointed.
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.
Results are due to be announced between around 0000 GMT and 0300 on Friday.
The northeastern city of Sunderland was one of the first to declare, recording a 61.3 percent vote for a Brexit and sending the pound plunging.
Figures from the Electoral Commission showed a record of 46.5 million people are entitled to take part in the nationwide referendum of this country. But they caution that the remain side could regain the lead when more districts are declared in Britain’s colossal population centre, London.
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Unlike at a general election the results in individual areas do not count – it is the overall number of votes cast for one side or the other across the country that will determine whether Britain leaves the EU.
