Britons vote on EU membership after bitter campaign

The final online Populus poll of the referendum campaign put Remain ten points ahead of Leave by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

Jenny Watson, who chairs the Electoral Commission referendum overseers and will announce the official result, said recounts would not take place “simply because the vote was close”.

The YouGov Plc poll showed 52 percent voted to remain in the 28-nation bloc and 48 percent chose to leave. The Betfair market predicted a 51 percent chance of Britain leaving the European Union – the first time in the referendum campaign the option has become the favorite.

“It’s been an extraordinary referendum campaign, turnout looks to be exceptionally high and looks like Remain will edge it”, Farage told SkyNews. A “remain” vote would nonetheless leave Britain divided and the European Union scrambling to reform.

After the Ipsos MORI poll was released, sterling broke above US$1.49 for the first time since 2015, although it later fell back and was at US$1.48.

A woman walks past European Union referendum posters for the pro-Europe Remain Group, We Are Europe, depicting U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, left on poster, kissing leave Europe advocate British MP Boris Johnson, on a billboard in Finsbury Park, London, Tuesday June 21, 2016.

Basildon saw a significant victory for the Leave campaign, as did Hartlepool, where 70 per cent voted for Leave. William Hill revised the chances of a “leave” vote from 25% to just under 17%. The markets believe it will be a Remain vote. Britain’s benchmark stock index closed 1.2 percent higher, adding to big gains earlier in the week, with global stock markets also rising.

Liverpool voted less strongly than expected to remain in the European Union, with 58 per cent of voters choosing to remain.

“What this does mean of course is that any “Bremain bounce” will be more of a blip and any Leave losses will be monstrous”.

Leeds Central MP and shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn addressed crowds in Sheffield and Vote Leave campaigner Boris Johnson arrived by helicopter.

Dundee has also voted to remain, by 39,688 to 26,697.

The first results in Wales all swung in favour of Brexit – including a comprehensive 62 per cent “out” result in Blaenau Gwent.

The first results, from England’s working-class northeast, were a smaller-than-expected “remain” win in Newcastle and a bigger-than-expected “leave” vote in nearby Sunderland.

Prime Minister David Cameron ignored questions about the weather, saying only “Good morning” to the gathered media from across the world, as he and wife Samantha cast their votes at Methodist Hall in Westminster.

While early indications of results could come from around 0200 GMT today, the final declaration is not likely until around 0800 GMT.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said earlier this month that a vote to leave would force his bank to move jobs to mainland Europe to ensure that it could continue to service clients in the EU.

Belfast East voted to leave, with 20,728 vote for remain and 21,918 for leave.

However, Justin Fisher, professor of politics at Brunel University, told Bloomberg that supporters of Brexit were generally less politically-engaged and less likely to vote.

Were a vote to leave to send the pound as low as Mr. Soros thinks it might, he noted, then “one pound would be worth about one euro – a method of “joining the euro” that nobody in Britain would want”.

Pro-Leave Justice Secretary Michael Gove said he was feeling “quite excited” as he accompanied his wife, Sarah Vine, to a polling station in North Kensington.

West Tyrone, East Derry, South Down, Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh and South Tyrone voted to remain.