EAST Lancashire voted decisively to leave the European Union as the nationwide ‘Brexit’ vote forced David Cameron’s resignation.

The Prime Minister fired the starting gun on a Conservative contest for a new leader by the start of the party conference in October in an emotional breakfast-time statement in Downing Street.

Leading ‘Leave’ campaigners and Tory MPs Nigel Evans and Andrew Stephenson said they were sad at his decision but delighted at Thursday’s referendum vote.

Burnley, Blackburn with Darwen, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale and Ribble Valley registered a combined ‘Brexit’ vote above 61 per cent.

Chorley’s 56.8 per cent vote for ‘Leave’ was not far behind.

The Brexit vote in the seven boroughs was notably higher than the national 51.9 per cent for Brexit and 48.1 per cent to remain. After the result the pound plunged to its lowest level on international money markets since 1985.

Mr Cameron said outside No.10: “I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”

Pendle MP Mr Stephenson said: “I am delighted, ecstatic, over the moon at the result.

“Labour voters and ordinary working people in East Lancashire and across the North of England voted to get out of the EU.

“I am very sad Mr Cameron has resigned as I wanted him to remain and handle the exit negotiations.”

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans said he was ‘delighted’ with the result. He said: “Everybody will remember where they were the day that Britain took back its independence after 43 years.

“I think the ‘Remain’ campaign made serious errors. People did not by into Project Fear.

“I think any economic problems will quickly sort themselves out.

“I am saddened at Mr Cameron’s resignation as he gave us our only chance to have a vote on our own governance.”

Both MPs declined to speculate on who should succeed Mr Cameron as Tory leader and Prime Minister, as ‘Brexit’ figurehead Boris Johnson was installed as firm favourite.

Former Blackburn MP Jack Straw, whose son Will was senior figure in the ‘Remain’ campaign, said: “I think Mr Cameron’s resignation was inevitable.

“The vote is definitely the second best result for the country.”

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

“It’s been a nasty campaign.

“We need to see what we can get out for this for the people of Blackburn with Darwen.”

County councillor Tony Martin, a senior Labour member in Burnley for the Remain campaign, said: “It was fairly obvious 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’sLabour MP Julie Cooper’s own Bank Hall ward, was 80 per cent for ‘Leave’.

He said: “We have always known from the start that Burnley was voting out, it was just by how many.”

Mrs Cooper said: “I am disappointed. It was a decisive vote to leave the EU in Burnley but I shall hold the Brexit supporters to their promise of more cash for the NHS.

“I think Mr Cameron’s resignation was predictable.”

Blackburn Labour agent Phil Riley said: “I think the ‘Remain campaign’ was very poor.

“David Cameron was very, very poor.

“He never really focused on the positive side of membership of the EU.

“The Remain campaign was very narrow and it focused too much on frightening voters.

“I fear that Blackburn, Darwen and East Lancashire will suffer as a result.”

Blackburn social activist Asif Mahmud said: “Yesterday was a sad day for the country.

“It is less safe as a result.

“It will be less secure. It will be a nastier place.”

Pendle county Tory councillor Paul White, North West organiser for the Leave campaign, said: “It was an historic night for the country and for Lancashire, where people voted overwhelmingly to leave the European Union.

“I am proud of the campaign that we have run in Lancashire and proud of the people who have engaged with us.

“It is time to move forward from here in a measured way.”

Hyndburn UKIP councillor Paul Thompson said he was excited to see what the future would hold.

He said: “It couldn’t have been better.

“Now we can get our democracy back.

“The main issue in East Lancashire has been sovereignty.

“I think the economy will level out by Christmas and then things will pick up.

“It will not be a nastier country but a better one for people of all original heritages.”

Cllr Thompson’s fellow borough UKIP councillor Malcolm Pritchard welcomed Mr Cameron’s resignation.

He said: “There should be an immediate general election.”

Rossendale and Darwen MP Jake Berry said: “It was my job to go to Parliament and secure a referendum for the people of my constituency.

“There is one sovereign body in the UK, the people of the country and in my case the people of Rossendale and Darwen.

“They voted to leave the EU and its is now my job to make sure the people of East Lancashire get the best deal for them in the future.”

Hyndburn MP Graham Jones said the result was ‘disastrous but entirely predictable’.

He said: “We will have economic chaos, political chaos and a divided country.

“This is the country taking it out on the political elite. Vast swathes of the country have felt deserted by the system for 40 years.

“It is not a Brussels problem its a Westminster problem but now we have to move on.”

Ribble Valley councillor and ‘Remain’ organiser Ken Hind said: “It was a very sad day for the UK.

“Nearly 50 per cent did not support Leave and we must heal divisions in the country and the Tory party.”

Former Hyndburn Council Tory leader, Cllr Peter Britcliffe, said: “I am nervous and knew there would be a North/South divide.

“It’s a brave new world in strange political times.”

UKIP deputy leader and East Lancashire Euro-MP Paul Nuttall said: “This was a momentous day which will go down in the annals of history.

“It is the day we got our country back and put the ‘great’ back in to Britain.”