Powys votes to leave EU in historic night

There was a huge victory for the leave campaign in Powys last night with 53.7% of voters backing the move.

Powys was one of 17 areas in Wales to back a Brexit, with only four of the counties voting regions being won by the remain campaign.

Montgomeryshire Assembly Member Russell George, who had voted to remain in, said he had not been surprised by the Powys result.

He said: "I am very sceptical. There is a lot I do not like about the EU but the risks of coming out were too big for me and I do think that if we leave there will be difficult times ahead. The Powys result is not a surprise to me, I suspected it would vote to leave."

Mr George said he believed that the Wales vote to leave was reflective of the feeling in rural areas of England.

The Conservative Assembly Member also said that he did not believe Wales' farming community had been as staunchly pro-EU as painted in the run-up to the referendum. He said: "I suspect the vote has mirrored the view in England because rural areas in England decided to vote leave and in Wales we have a lot more rural areas.

"There has been a view that farmers are very much for remaining in the EU but that is not what I have been picking up over the last few months. I have been speaking to farmers who were adamant they were going to vote out."

Mr George said that the vote had also reflected the recent Welsh Assembly election where UKIP surprised the pundits by winning seven seats.

He said: "I think just the fact that the assembly election six weeks ago had such a strong UKIP vote gave an indication of what was to come."