UK backs leaving EU as Doncaster votes two to one to get out

Doncaster voted two to one to leave the EU last night as the country backed leaving the organisation.
Hyde Park Community Centre, Clark Avenue, was just one of 173 polling stations in Doncaster that was open on EU Referendum day.Hyde Park Community Centre, Clark Avenue, was just one of 173 polling stations in Doncaster that was open on EU Referendum day.
Hyde Park Community Centre, Clark Avenue, was just one of 173 polling stations in Doncaster that was open on EU Referendum day.

In the borough, 69 per cent voted to leave, compared to 31 who wanted to remain. National it was 52 per cent to leave and 48 per cent to stay.

Thousands of Doncaster people cast their votes in what one MP called ‘the biggest choice in a generation’.

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Over 217,000 residents were registered to vote in yesterday’s poll. Of the 217,422 people on the register, 61,748 received a postal vote.

Doncaster North MP Ed Miliband and Don Valley MP Caroline Flint were among the thousands who had their say by mail.

Caroline Flint said that, now a decision has been made, Doncaster must ‘accept the outcome’.

“This has been a historic vote, it has really got the public involved in the political debate.

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“Even though it has aroused strong feelings on both sides, now the decision is made we will have to come together, accept the outcome and make the best of it for Doncaster and the UK.”

Doncaster Central MP Rosie Winterton, who voted at her local polling station, also called the referendum ‘the biggest choice in a generation’.

At the borough’s 173 polling stations, there was a steady flow of voters during the 15 hours they were open.

One woman who had just cast her vote, but did not want to be named, said: “I voted because if we have been given a chance to have our say I think we should take it.

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“I always make sure I use my vote. I’m glad ordinary people have been given the chance to decide and it’s not just down to the politicians.”

On Facebook Rachael Fawcett said: “It’s been great debating with people, especially my own family and friends.

“I’ll embrace either outcome.”

Some residents , however, were unhappy with their polling stations.

Thorne Moorends Town Councillor Richard Walker said he had received complaints from people living in the Quayside Road area of Thorne that a mobile building normally opened for elections was not used this year.

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Residents were instead sent to Moorends Welfare Community Centre, around two miles away.

But in a statement, a Doncaster Council spokesperson explained: “We cannot send electors to a different warded parish to vote, they must be kept within the parish boundaries.”

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