EU Referendum vote - latest news and reaction

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Don't forget that our expert team will be tweeting through Thursday night and Friday morning, bringing you right up-to-date with the latest developments. Follow the feed in this page or visit @NFUtweets.
 

Friday 24 June 2016 - How the day unfolded:


3.00pm: EU Referendum result: A message from NFU President Meurig Raymond. "The NFU’s leading role in ensuring policies are in place for a profitable, productive and competitive farming industry is now more important than ever."

1-3pm: NFU staff blogs from Matt Ware (Government & Parliamentary Affairs), Maeve Whyte (British Agriculture Bureau) and Andrea Graham (Policy).

12.30pm: ' The NFU will play a vital role at this time of political uncertainty in ensuring that politicians of all colours understand the importance of farming to the economy and to food security.' See what our Westminster team is saying this afternoon here.
 

11.50am: Statement by the President of the European Council on the outcome of the UK referendum: "We are prepared for this negative scenario. There will be no legal vacuum," said President Donald Tusk. A handy timeline is on the Europa website here.


11.10am: The Leave Campaign gives a press conference. Boris Johnson says 'there is no need for haste'

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11am: The leave vote means that we have at least two years from the day the UK’s decision is notified to the EU Council to define the terms of the ‘divorce’ with the EU.

And despite the uncertainties that lie ahead, we now have an opportunity to shape our own agricultural, trade, environmental and veterinary policies. Our experts have put together a briefing for NFU members looking at how that process might unfold. Read it here.


10am: Red Tractor Assurance Scheme publishes their response - read it here
 

9.30am: Viewpoint from our Brussels Office

9.30am: NFU Cymru's reaction to the Leave result


8.35am: Prime Minister David Cameron gives post-vote speech stating that he will step down as leader from October

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8.30am: NFU content for our members


7.20am: Here's how influential business organisation the CBI has reacted to today's decision.

7am:


 

6am: NFU statement on today's Leave vote

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NFU President Meurig Raymond said: “The vote to leave the European Union will inevitably lead to a period of uncertainty in a number of areas that are of vital importance to Britain’s farmers.

“The NFU will engage fully and constructively with the British government to construct new arrangements. This needs to happen as soon as possible.

“Our members will rightly want to know the impact on their businesses as a matter of urgency.  We understand that the negotiations will take some time to deliver but it is vital that there is early commitment to ensure British farming is not disadvantaged..."

5.55am: The UK has voted to leave the European Union. NFU response soon


5.50am: NFU Vice President Guy Smith on BBC Radio 4:

"We are going to need effective representation from now on, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and make sure we get a good deal for British agriculture."

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5.30am: Leave need just over a million votes with 30 results left to declare. Sky News is also forecasting that the UK will leave the European Union. A final result is expected in the next half hour.


5.15am: Right, the situation at 5.15am is that with all bar 44 of the 382 polls in, Leave is ahead overall by 14,861,576 to 13,861,537. Turnout is running at 72%. Scotland voted strongly in favour of the UK staying in the EU - with all 32 council areas backing Remain (62% - 38%). Remain won in Northern Ireland and London, but across England as a whole Leave pulled out a lead which the BBC is currently forecasting translates to a 52% to 48% overall majority.


5am: The UK has voted by a narrow margin to leave the European Union after 43 years in an historic referendum, a BBC forecast suggests. More here.



3am: NFU Vice President Guy Smith appears on Sky News

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