The United Kingdom is to leave the European Union after a historic referendum.

The Leave campaigned triumphed winning 52% of the vote.

Across northern English cities and rural regions the Leave campaign outpolled their pro-EU Remain campaign rivals.

Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to stay in the organisation but England and Wales swung to Brexit.

Before the UK-wide result became clearer, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland was "unequivocal" about remaining in the European Union.

Scotland voted to stay in the EU in all 32 of the country's local authority areas.

Sturgeon said: "Scotland has delivered a strong, unequivocal vote to remain in the EU, and I welcome that endorsement of our European status.

"And while the overall result remains to be declared, the vote here makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union.

"Scotland has contributed significantly to the Remain vote across the UK. That reflects the positive campaign the SNP fought, which highlighted the gains and benefits of our EU membership, and people across Scotland have responded to that positive message.

"We await the final UK-wide result, but Scotland has spoken - and spoken decisively."

Large cities such as Birmingham, Sunderland, Coventry and Cardiff all voted to leave the European Union.

This gave the pro-Brexit campaign a narrow lead despite losing other major population centres such as Glasgow, inner London, Manchester and Leeds.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the Leave's triumph was a "victory for real people".

He said: "This, if the predictions now are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people.

"We have fought against the multinationals, we have fought against the big merchant banks, we have fought against big politics, we have fought against lies, corruption and deceit.

"And today honesty, decency and belief in nation, I think now is going to win.

"And we will have done it without having to fight, without a single bullet being fired, we'd have done it by damned hard work on the ground."

Before the London Stock Exchange opened at 8am, the Bank of England released a statement saying "it will take all necessarry steps" to ensure monetary and financial stability

The Bank said: "The Bank of England is monitoring developments closely. It has undertaken extensive contingency planning and is working closely with HM Treasury, other domestic authorities and overseas central banks.

"The Bank of England will take all necessary steps to meet its responsibilities for monetary and financial stability."

After the referendum results became clear international money markets began selling sterling, causing the currency to devalue.