Forecast Suggests UK Heading For Brexit
Forecasts indicate a win for the Leave camp with more than half the voting areas declared in the historic EU referendum.
Sky News' election analyst Professor Michael Thrasher has suggested Vote Leave will secure 52% of the vote compared to 48% for Remain, based on current results.
The pound took a hammering as early results indicated the Leave camp was performing above expectations, with victories by wider than forecast margins in bellwether areas, including Sunderland and Swindon.
Most of the voting areas to so far declare have recorded high turnouts.
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Boris Johnson and Michael Gove were among more than 80 pro-Brexit Tory MPs, who have signed a letter pledging loyalty to David Cameron and urging him to continue as Prime Minister regardless of the result.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage had initially been pessimistic of the result and thought Britain had voted to Remain.
As polls closed, a YouGov projection based on a survey of almost 5,000 people on polling day suggests Remain ahead, with 52% to Leave's 48% - while bookies and financial markets appeared to be banking on the UK staying in the EU.
But confidence in the Leave camp grew with a series of strong performances in the English shires, Wales and parts of the North East including Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool.
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These were offset by emphatic wins in London for Remain, which also picked up large swathes of Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Speaking later, Mr Farage said: "Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom.
"This, if the predictions now are right, will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people."
A record number of voters - some 46.5 million - were eligible to take part in the referendum, according to figures from the Electoral Commission.
The overall result for the whole of the UK will be announced in Manchester, likely on Friday morning, but only when all 382 areas have declared.
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