UK votes to leave the EU

Source: BBC News:

June 23, 2016 at 22:04

The UK's EU referendum is proving too close to call, with Leave getting more votes than expected in early results but Remain starting to gain ground.

The North-East of England and Wales are backing Brexit, on a higher turnout than at the general election.

Scotland and Northern Ireland appear to have opted for Remain - but millions of votes are still to be counted in London and South-East of England.

The pound surged as polls closed before falling dramatically.

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 the outcome.

Polling expert Prof John Curtice said at this very early stage Leave looked favourite to win the referendum. He estimates that the finishing post for one side to win is 16,813,000 votes.

The pound surged against the dollar when polls closed at 22:00 BST and opinion polls pointed towards a Remain win but it fell dramatically when the first results were declared.

Votes are being counted at each of the 382 local counting areas. These represent all 380 local government areas in England, Scotland and Wales, plus one each for Northern Ireland and Gibraltar.

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