Jubilant Ukip leader Nigel Farage celebrates a Brexit victory – and calls for today to be made a Bank Holiday
NIGEL Farage says the dawn has broken on an independent United Kingdom as the country voted to leave the European Union.
The elated UKIP leader called for today to be made a Bank Holiday as Britain celebrates independence.
Delivering his post EU referendum result speech in London, Farage said: "The EU is failing, the EU is dying and I hope we've knocked the first brick out of the wall.
"I hope this is the first step towards a Europe of sovereign nation states; trading together, neighbours together, friends together - but without flags, anthems or useless old unelected presidents."
He told of rumours that the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Italy were looking to make their exit from the EU.
He then called for the current Government to be replaced with a "Brexit Government" so that negociations to leave the EU can begin immediately.
Ending his speech with supporters waving Union Jack flags behind him, Farage added that today should be made to be a public bank holiday - called Independence Day.
Earlier today he said: 'This will go down in history as our independence day.
"This is a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people.
"We have fought against the multinationals, we have fought against the big merchant banks, we have fought against big politics, we have fought against lies, corruption and deceit.
"And today honesty, decency and belief in nation, I think now is going to win.
"And we will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired, we'd have done it by damned hard work on the ground.
"I hope this victory brings down this failed project and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nation states, trading together, being friends together, cooperating together, and let's get rid of the flag, the anthem, Brussels, and all that has gone wrong."
Just hours after the UKIP leader called for Cameron to stand down “immediately” after his defeat, the Prime Minister made a speech in front of the world's media announcing his resignation.
"The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected," Cameron said.
"The country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction."
Who backed Brexit? The top ten places where Leave had the strongest backing
More than 90 % of the results have been reported. These are the areas that voted most in favour of leave or remain:
Top 10 leave
Boston – 75.6%
South Holland – 73.6%
Castle Point – 72.7%
Thurrock – 72.3%
Great Yarmouth – 71.5%
Fenland – 71.4%
Mansfield – 70.9%
Bolsover – 70.8%
North East Lincolnshire – 69.9%
Ashfield – 69.8%
Top 10 remain
Gibraltar – 95.9%
Lambeth – 78.6%
Hackney – 78.5%
Haringey – 75.6%
City of London – 75.3%
Islington – 75.2%
Wandsworth – 75.0%
Camden – 74.9%
Edinburgh – 74.4%
East Renfrewshire – 74.3%
Opposition politicians had turned on David Cameron last night when it appeared Leave were heading victory, calling for him to go.
Some have previously called for him to stay on, at least for a period of “stability” as the UK negotiates its withdrawal with the EU - while others have said he must go.
It comes just days after senior Tories began a major operation to save Mr Cameron’s Premiership from the ruins of his party’s EU referendum civil war.
The PM was planning to lead the peace drive personally with an address to the nation from No10’s steps early this morning soon after the historic vote’s result is announced.
But his main competitors over in the Leave camp have remained loyal to their leader.
This afternoon Boris Johnson and Michael Gove paid tribute to Cameron who they described as “one of the most extraordinary politicians of our age”.
Gove applauded him for leading the UK with "courage, dignity and grace".
"He deserves to be remembered as a great Prime Minister," he added.
Johnson said: "I believe we now have a glorious opportunity - we can pass our laws and set our taxes entirely to the needs of the UK economy
"We can control our borders in a way that is not discriminatory, but fair and balanced and take the wind out of the sails of the extremists and those who would play politics with immigration.
"Above all, we can find our voice in the world again... powerful, liberal, humane, an extraordinary force for good in the world."
Just hours before Leave began to storm into the lead, Farage blamed Government dirty tricks for skewing the Referendum result in favour of Remain but said Eurosceptics will “win the war”.
He said the Ins appeared to have triumphed because of the extra two million they managed to sign up.
That included half a million during the controversial 48-hour registration extension.
But he was blasted by pro-EU ministers, who described his comments as “ridiculous”.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun before a single result was called, Mr Farage said: “The whole Government machine was used to sign students up en masse.
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"Every time when you even applied for a tax disc you were urged to sign.
"I know the way that these things work.
"I fear that has tipped the balance.”
A computer glitch earlier this month led to a 48-hour extension for voter registration, when nearly half a million people signed up.
And Mr Farage said: “My view is the sizeable number of registrations that took place in the 48-hour extension has played a part.
“They got a huge number of young people.
“The whole Government campaign has been about registering young people and that has made a big, big difference.”
LIVE UPDATES: Click here for all the latest on the referendum results
But in a separate address to supporters before the results were in, the Ukip chief remained defiant.
He claimed: “The Eurosceptic genie is out of the bottle and it now will not be put back in.
“Whatever happens tonight, in this battle, we are winning the war.
“We will win this war, we will get our country back, we will get our independence back and we will get our borders back.”
Mr Farage also said it was not a night for recriminations but for celebration because the course of British politics had changed forever.
He said it had been an “extraordinary” campaign and Ukip were “going nowhere”.
Pro-EU Tory minister Amber Rudd hit back at his dirty tricks accusations, claiming it was “a ridiculous thing to say”.
She added Mr Farage “needed to respect the will of the people” and urged the public to accept the decision, whatever the result.
Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames also branded Mr Farage an “odious little crapweasel”.
Ukip’s only MP Douglas Carswell attacked his party boss’s outburst, saying: “Surely it’s a good thing that people could take part in the vote — surely it’s important to respect democracy.”
He also blasted Mr Farage’s controversial “breaking point” immigration poster, saying: “It was morally the wrong thing to do.
“Angry nativism doesn’t win elections in this country.”
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