After an intensely close campaign with in and out tallies fluctuating around the 50% mark all night; at one point at 02:51 this morning the actual count was exactly 50:50, the citizens of the UK have voted to leave by a narrow margin.

The vote is split:

Leave 51.9%. 17,410,742

Remain 48.1% 16,141,241

The campaign has polarised voters across the UK.

Voters right across Scotland, who came out to vote in lower numbers, 67.2% then the 72% turnout across rest of the UK narrowly voted to remain by 62% Remain 38% Leave. Scottish turnout was higher than their general election but lower than the the near 85% for the Scottish referendum,

Voters across the North of England voted to Leave in higher numbers than expected. With voters in London wishing to remain but not in enough numbers to offset the increased northern England drift towards Leave.

England overall voted to leave by 53.4% Leave 46.6% Remain. Northern Ireland voted to remain however nationalist voters didn't hit the polling booths as high numbers as expected. The Northern Irish vote was split 42.2% to Leave and 55.8% to Remain.

Wales narrowly voted to 52.5 Leave to 47.5 Remain.

The count began yesterday evening with Remain campaigners cautiously expecting a very narrow victory for the Remain side. Even Nigel Farage on the Leave campaign, as he joined the Leave campaign reception at the beginning of the count, said that although not accepting defeat he felt the Remain vote would narrowly edge ahead of the Leave vote.

Sentiments began to change, however, after the counts began to come in from Newcastle and Sunderland showing that the gap between Leave and Remain was greater than expected in favour of Leave. From that point onwards Sterling, which had traded to its highest level for some time based on investor sentiment that the UK would remain began to spiral downward to its lowest level since 1985, as investors reassessed the situation and reacted to the inevitable slow down and immediate confusion the UK economy will face in the coming year.

Before the count began senior Tory Leave campaigners including Boris Johnson and Micheal Gove signed a letter to David Cameron supporting that he remain on as prime minister to steer the country through whatever the voters decide.

We, both Ireland and the UK, are in for a turbulent time over the coming months. The magnitude of this historic moment remains to be seen what the true outcome of this referendum will be.

Reaction

The Irish government has said the Leave vote has very significant implications. Other EU representatives like Germany's foreign minister has said its "A sad day for Europe and Great Britain". The French government will meet later today to discuss the issue. The leader of France's far right party Marie Le Pen welcomed the result calling for a referendum in France saying "it's a victory for freedom".