ST HELENS politicians have voiced concerns for what the EU referendum result will mean for the country and the town as the fallout from the decision to vote Leave continued.

On a dramatic day:

:: The final results of the referendum revealed the UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU

:: David Cameron announced he would hand over the premiership to a new Conservative leader by October

:: Senior Labour MPs tabled a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn

:: More than £100 billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 as the index fell more than 7%, while the pound also crashed against the US dollar before the markets regained some of the lost value after Bank of England governor Mark Carney pledged to intervene

:: Nicola Sturgeon said the result was "democratically unacceptable" because Scotland had voted to Remain in the EU, and confirmed that her administration would draw up legislation to allow a second independence referendum to be held.

Leave supporters hailed the result as "momentous".

But speaking after digesting the national result and a local vote that saw 54,357 vote to leave and 39,322 vote to remain, St Helens North MP Conor McGinn and St Helens Council leader Barrie Grunewald gave their reaction. 

McGinn, who had been vocal in his support for Remain, said: "I respect the result of the referendum, both nationally and in St Helens. Naturally, I am disappointed with the outcome and worried about what it means for our country's future.

"Our people and the country are divided. Therefore, all of us in positions of responsibility and leadership now have a duty to pull together and do what is right for the country and the people we represent.

"The UK now faces a period of uncertainty and unprecedented challenge. It will affect every person, every family and every community, including here in St Helens.

"My priority is continuing to work hard doing the job I love and am so proud to have, representing all of the people of St Helens North as their Member of Parliament."

Council Leader Barrie Grunewald, meanwhile, admitted to fears for the local economy and investment in the borough, said: “The full implications of last night’s vote will only become apparent in the weeks and months ahead.

“However we are concerned about the possible impact on interest rates - both paid and received by the council - the implications of any emergency budget on council funding and the implications of equities values on pension funds.

“In addition, some commentators are forecasting a recession following the vote, which could have an impact on employment and investment locally.

"We are also concerned about the impact of the result on European Funds in the City Region area and on the ground here in St Helens. We have been active in developing a Motorways of the Sea scheme with many other areas of Europe and we are hoping for significant EU investment in the borough in the future.

“We expect the commitments made by the Brexit campaign to be met – they promised that such funds would be met by Government centrally and we believe that should now be the case even if the source of that funding has been very unclear.

“We will have to wait and see exactly how councils will be affected - and plan accordingly.”

However, UKIP deputy leader Paul Nuttall was triumphant and said Britain now had  the chance to plot its own destiny.

He said: "This is 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.

“We now have the chance to take control of our own destiny and borders and we can be good neighbours with the European Union rather than tenants.

“I always believed that we could do well vote to leave but the margin has been tremendous and in the North West it was almost two to one to quit the EU - a fantastic result. 

“The result of this referendum will shape the direction our country will take in the first half of this century.

"We will be outward looking rather than inwards and we will be a global player signing our own trade deals with emerging economies.”