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David Cameron – pic from www.ibtimes.co.uk

LONDON. – The UK has voted to leave the European Union, shocking the world and revealing a divided country.

The high Brexit votes in the North of England were the first sign of things to come in the EU referendum – and 58 per cent of the North East backed leaving the EU.

More than one in three people along the coast north of Hartlepool placed themselves in the DE social-class in the last census. Leave’s victory here can be seen as a sign that they successfully appealed to working-class voters.

The North West was particularly difficult to call before the election – while the cities have high migrant populations expected to encourage Leave voters, the area also had a high university-educated population predicted to Remain.

The West Midlands is officially the most eurosceptic part of the UK. The area has been rocked by migration tensions in the past, but never much by European migrants.

Ukip didn’t really get a foothold in the General Election so Leave will be encouraged – and perhaps surprised – that the West Midlanders has so strongly voted out of the EU.

Whether it was Project Fear or a love of the continent, London has voted heavily to remain in the European Union in an expected result in the capital city.

The multicultural and international city had polled as the most europhilic part of England before the referendum. It also is home to the financial City of London, whose businesses and banks had mainly backed the perceived stability of a vote to remain.

Some 70 per cent of Londoners so far back British membership of the European Union, although the results are still coming in. Yorkshire and the Humber gave one of the highest eurosceptic results in the country, with 57.7 per cent of people backing Leave.

Hull is one of Britain’s best exporters to Europe, but Ukip came second in fifteen seats around the area in the 2015 election. Leave will be glad they could convert this into votes to leave the European Union.

The East of England has matched the polls’ predictions as one of the most eurosceptic part of the UK, with almost three in five of its residents backing the Brexit campaign. This region is home to MP Douglas Carswell’s constituency, Clacton, the only Ukip seat in Parliament.

It contains the most deprived area in the UK, with 33 per cent youth unemployment, and locals insist that Europe and uncontrolled immigration have caused the decline in the once popular seaside resort.

There was a lot of discussion about Scotland’s vote before the referendum, and the results have shown that the speculation was worthwhile. Scotland has been taken out of the European Union despite its vote to remain.

Polls suggested that this may well have been the case. Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, had previously stated that demand for a second independence referendum could be “unstoppable” if taken out of the EU against its will.

With 62 per cent of Scottish people voting to Remain, Westminster politicians will be nervously eyeing polls above the border to monitor the demand for another referendum. Northern Ireland had polled more europhilic than other other region in the UK before the election.

With the results in, its Remain vote of 55.7 per cent was the third strongest in the country. There are already calls for independence in response to the nation being taken out of the EU against its will.

Wales was one of the big shocks in the results as its people backed Leave – it was expected to give Remain a slight lead.

The picture wasn’t completely clear: in the recent local elections, Ukip managed to win its first seven seats in the Welsh Assembly. Deprived areas in West Wales benefit from receiving high levels of EU aid, with Wales receiving nearly £2.5bn in structural funds between 2014 and 2020.

What happens next?

No one knows. The pound has fallen as the future of the UK’s economy is plunged into uncertainty. David Cameron has announced that he will stand down as Prime Minister by October. – BBC News