EU referendum result: Sandwell votes LEAVE

The borough is ranked as one of the most Eurosceptic places in the country so the outcome did not come as a surprise, though the scale of the win for the Leave camp was larger than some expected as a large majority residents opted to turn their back on the union.

There were cheers of joy as the returning officer announced 98,250 (66.7 per cent) voters had backed Brexit.

• More: Live coverage from the local counts in the West Midlands

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The borough, although a Labour stronghold has experienced high levels of immigration and in employment. The results were declared at 4.30am this morning with 49,004 (33.3 per cent) voting to stay in the EU.

Two in every three people in the borough decided to have their say in the referendum with Sandwell's turnout at 66.6 per cent. A total of 147,418 people went to the ballot box.

Sandwell's UKIP chairman was understandably delighted with the result.

He said: "We're pleased. We were thinking if we got 60 per cent it would be a good result. They have ignored Labour's urges to tow the party line and have said they don't like it and they don't want it."

Pro-EU Labour councillor for Tipton Peter Allen said he anticipated the result from speaking to people on doorsteps but admitted the defeat was heavier than he expected.

He said: "I thought it would be a Leave vote. Talking to people, that's what I got the feel for.

"You do as much as you can as their Labour councillor but they make their own minds up."

Asked why he thought the majority of voters in Sandwell had voted for Brexit, Councillor Allen said: "There's a lot of third-generation unemployed in Sandwell and they feel threatened by migration, Eastern Europeans have a good work ethic so they feel it's hard for them to get jobs."

Polls closed at 10pm with the first ballot boxes arriving at Tipton Sports Academy just 10 minutes later.

Verification was under way by 10.20pm but it wasn't until almost four hours later that the official counting could begin. There was a delay of around an hour as officers in Birmingham and Tipton made sure the numbers matched up.

The result was clear early on with votes for Leave by far outweighing those for Remain.

Labour councillors backing Remain in the he room became disheartened early on, though many knew it was a tough task in Eurosceptic Sandwell.

Sandwell's UKIP chairman Pete Durnell went through a tide of emotions, stating early on Brexit looked unlikely before being buoyed by early results from elsewhere in the UK.

But there was less for him to worry about in Sandwell which looked like it was voting for Brexit from early on.

He said: "It's a fantastic result. It is roughly what we were expecting, between 67 and 70 per cent.

"It is quite a run-down area with a lot of unemployment and in terms of economics this is quite a poor area. It's not an area that is booming.

"There is a large number of people from Eastern Europe who are willing to work for £3.10 an hour and what chance does that give people of getting a job?"

Around a dozen councillors and party agents were present during the count. Supporters on both sides also kept a keen eye on a screen set up outside the main hall as results filtered in from elsewhere.

In the run-up to the vote, Sandwell was ranked as the ninth most Eurosceptic area in the country - much higher than other parts of the Black Country.

It was revealed last year that homeless families from London were being placed in Sandwell due to a lack of available homes in the capital, which bosses in the borough claimed put an added pressure on services.