A CONVINCING majority of voters in East Lancashire have voted to walk away from the European Union.

And while there may have been some slight variations across the board, the message from the electorate to the political class has been clear.

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Each of the six boroughs in turn elected to reject the UK's membership of the continental power broker, going further even than the mood nationally.

Blackburn MP Kate Hollern said: "It's what we expected. The people have spoken. Now the government and all parties have to listen."

But she characterised it as a 'nasty' campaign, with key questions like immigration and job security proving deeply divisive.

County councillor Tony Martin, a senior Labour member in Burnley, said: "It was fairly obvious from the start of the count that that margin was going to go against us so we clearly we didn't get the message across. It is a shame the other parties were not campaigning as hard."

Burnley UKIP chairman Tom Commis claimed the result in the town's urban Bank Hall, MP Julie Cooper's own ward, was close to 80 per cent in their favour.

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He said: "I have never been on the winning side, as it were, at one of these counts. We have always known from the start that Burnley was voting out, it was just by how many."

First to declare on the night was Burnley, with a 66.4 per cent majority for the Leave campaign, on a turnout of 67.3 per cent, the highest seen locally since the 1992 General Election.

This was closely followed by Pendle and Hyndburn, where the majorities were 63.2 per cent and 66.2 per cent for Leave.

Lancashire Telegraph:

Ribble Valley was slightly less emphatic, as 56.3 per cent opted to go it alone, though Rossendale rallied for the Brexiteers, on 60.6 per cent.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Chorley, on another impressive turnout, of 75.33 per cent, giving Leave a 56.8 per cent win.