Leave vote wins in Wigan

Wigan borough has voted to leave the European Union with 64 per cent opting for Brexit.

The turnout across Wigan, Leigh and Makerfield was 69.2 per cent with 163,381 votes cast.

The result, which arrived just before 3am, had an air of inevitability to it with Remain campaign representatives conceding early on in the night the borough was backing Brexit.

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Orrell ward councillor Michael Winstanley, who has backed Brexit representing the Conservatives, said: “I think it has been an astounding result for the Leave campaign here in Wigan.

“It demonstrates emphatically what the people of this borough thinks of the European Union, it is an emphatic result. Almost 64 per cent is beyond what I could have imagined.”

Looking ahead to the main result later on Friday, he added: “I think (across the country) that’s going to be a bit more difficult looking at some of the results coming in from Scotland and some of the London boroughs as well, that might just tip it in terms of the main vote. But outside of those big cities it’s area after area after area voting to leave the EU. I certainly think the people of England has spoken with one united voice.”

In total 104,331 voted to leave (63.89 per cent) and 58,942 remain.

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Vote Leave representative Will Jones added: “It’s a great result and a fantastic representation of the people of Wigan and a fantastic voice for democracy. It shows that people are fed up with the EU. They’re not going to stand down to it anymore, I agree with Michael that winning the main vote is a big task but lots of little steps like this can build up and we can continue the fight.”

Remain campaign representative and Green Party member Will Patterson told Wigan Today: “It was maybe a little bit less for us than we expected but that’s the way it goes unfortunately, that’s democracy. We’ll keep pushing our argument and we’ll wait for the national result.

“I’m optimistic (about the main result), in the last couple of minutes we’ve had good results in Liverpool and Islington, so big boroughs are going our way and Scotland is heavily in for remain so it is possible.”