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EU referendum: Leave vote takes overwhelming lead in East EU referendum: East of England backs Brexit
(about 1 hour later)
The leave vote is pulling away into an overwhelming lead amongst EU referendum voters in the east of England. The east of England has overwhelmingly voted in favour of Britain leaving the EU.
Basildon voted overwhelmingly in favour of leaving, with 68.6% backing a Brexit. With a 75% turnout, 67,251 voted leave against 30,748 for remain. Basildon, which declared its result early on, set the trend for the region, with 68.6% backing a Brexit.
Norwich, Cambridge, St Albans and North Hertfordshire are the only areas in the East so far to have voted remain. Of the 41 of 47 results declared so far, 1,567,801 have voted leave and 1,218,644 remain.
Norwich, Cambridge, St Albans and North Hertfordshire are the only areas in the East so far to have voted in favour of remaining.
The closest result in the region so far has been Uttlesford where 25,619 voted to remain and 26,324 voted to leave.The closest result in the region so far has been Uttlesford where 25,619 voted to remain and 26,324 voted to leave.
South Norfolk, Great Yarmouth, Peterborough, Southend, Epping Forest, Forest Heath, Chelmsford, Colchester, Welwyn Hatfield and Rochford have also voted in favour of leaving.South Norfolk, Great Yarmouth, Peterborough, Southend, Epping Forest, Forest Heath, Chelmsford, Colchester, Welwyn Hatfield and Rochford have also voted in favour of leaving.
By Tom Barton, BBC East
We have long known that the east of England is one of the most Eurosceptic parts of Great Britain.
In the past few hours, that fact has shown itself to be overwhelmingly true.
Across Essex and right up the east coast, people voted for Brexit. The same is also true further west, with a few notable exceptions such Norwich and Cambridge.
As the sun rises over Lowestoft this region - just like the rest of Britain - is changed forever.
See local results here.See local results here.
Follow the latest news on the BBC's live EU referendum pageFollow the latest news on the BBC's live EU referendum page
Hertsmere, Harlow and Watford have also voted to leave.Hertsmere, Harlow and Watford have also voted to leave.
Conservative Ipswich MP Ben Gummer, a member of the Leave campaign, said: "It is going to be close. It is difficult to see a pattern coming through yet.
"We will have to see what happens when the big cities start coming in. Lots of the east of England was not going to be a positive result for Remain. It is going to be a long night."
Conservative MP for Braintree James Cleverly, who has been campaigning to leave the EU, said: "It is still very, very early in the evening.
"Leave is performing a bit better than people expected and if that continues then I think we are on course for Britain to leave the EU - though we still have some big blocks of votes to come in."