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Who Won The Brexit Vote? Early European Union Referendum Results Include Victories For ‘Leave,’ But Exit Poll May Say Otherwise

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 12:41 PST, Jun 23, 2016

Who won the Brexit vote?

As results from the European Union referendum begin pouring in Thursday evening and into early Friday morning, the effort to leave the EU appears to be out to a fast start.

While reports are rolling in throughout the night and the race is expected to be very fluid, the Telegraph noted that there were some early victories for Brexit. There was a larger-than-expected vote for Leave in Newcastle, and Sunderland also went heavily for Brexit.

Sunderland was seen as something of a bellwether, with experts predicting that Brexit would fail if the Leave side won by five points or less. Thursday’s results showed that 61 percent of Sunderland voters favored Brexit against 39 percent to remain in the European Union.

But despite the early victories for Brexit, there are strong signs that Remain will win in the end. A same-day poll conducted by YouGov found that 52 percent of respondents favored remaining in the European Union.

As the Huffington Post noted, the poll was a strong sign for Remain.

“The poll, carried out by YouGov, shows the Remain side is set to win the referendum, with 52% of those asked backing the UK staying in the EU.

“If the poll is accurate, it would be a hammer-blow for Boris Johnson, whose backing of a Leave vote helped widen a split at the very top of the Conservative Party.”

As voters wait to see who won the Brexit vote, the world is preparing for the possible effects of Britain severing ties with the EU. Fredrik Reinfeldt, former Prime Minister of Sweden and a close ally of Remain backer David Cameron, said the Brexit could have wide-ranging effects across the continent.

Reinfeldt said he believes Cameron’s approach has been the most sensible, with Britain remaining in the European Union while pushing the EU to reform.

“I think what David Cameron actually achieved was to say that this one-size-fits all Europe which has created such a worry in Britain is not the Europe for the future,” he said, via the Telegraph.“This will be a European Union that actually could go in some kinds of different directions at the same time.

“There will be, I hope, a British membership of the European Union but still a British pound and this is very like the Swedish debate, we want to be members of the European Union but we want to keep our own currency. And I think that he has established now that there could be different means to actually have different kinds of membership and I think that’s really important.”

There are others who have supported the Remain campaign with the idea that Britain would address the issues important to the Leave voters, namely immigration. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a Remain supporter, agreed with those who believe that Britain should be looking at these issues closely.

“They raise issues of poverty, they raise issues of housing, they raise issues of health; and yes they raise issues of immigration, all these issues are raised; but if you have a rational discussion with people, as I try to do, and don’t do it with rancor, you don’t do with personal abuse, then you get a hearing,” he said, via The Guardian.

Those who want to know who won the Brexit vote can click here for updated local vote totals. A final tally and an answer on whether the European Union referendum went for Remain or Leave will known by Friday at breakfast time, officials in the U.K. have said.

[Photo by Tim Ireland/AP Images]

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