In historic referendum, Britain votes to leave the European Union

British voters in favor of leaving the EU.

(Image credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

last updated 24 June 2016

The UK has voted to leave the European Union, with the Leave camp reaching a pivotal 17,410,742 votes to make it official.

With all results in, the Leave camp has 52 percent of the vote while the Remain side has 48 percent. In London and Scotland, voters strongly preferred to remain in the EU, while Wales and a majority of England outside of London largely voted in favor of leaving, the BBC reports. Turnout was high at 72 percent, the largest number since the 1992 elections.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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