ONE of the leading campaigners behind the town's decision to back the national trend by voting to leave the EU is calling for calm after the 'economic shock' following the 'historic event'.

Ian Wilson, leader of Warrington's Leave EU group, was at Birchwood Leisure Centre to hear council chief executive Steven Broomhead announce the town's result just after 4.30am on Friday.

Fears mounted in the immediate aftermath of the UK result shortly after due to the economic impact.

But Mr Wilson believes there is no major cause for concern.

He said: "In the early hours of Friday, the people gathered at the Warrington count realised that they were witnessing a historic event – one that will reverberate for many years to come.

"From the minute the counting began, we could see from the majority of ballot papers being counted that the people of Warrington had voted exactly the way they said they would.

"For many years, there has been a huge chunk of our population that voiced concerns over some aspects of EU membership.

"These people were ignored, sneered at, and derided as uneducated, bigoted and uninformed.

"Last Thursday, these people finally got their say, and boy, did they shout.

"Come Friday morning and the inevitable and apocalyptic minor economic shock arrived. The stock markets and currency briefly collapsed and the doom merchants rejoiced.

"But by tea-time, buoyed by the reassuring and soothing tones of Mark Carney (Bank of England governor), they had stabilised and recovered.

"There will be other aftershocks but Friday showed us that we should not be overly concerned.

"Despite the outcome endorsing an exit from the EU, the 48 per cent Remain figure is one that demands a voice and contains a mandate of some kind.

"I genuinely hope the country can find a path that is mutually acceptable myself, I've suggested European Economic Area membership as one potential option that may placate both camps, however, it's obviously something in itself that is both contentious and imperfect.

"But it needn't be a final destination – just the first step in an overall process of disentanglement from the EU.

"A matter that is becoming more pressing is the turmoil in our two main political parties.

"It's now evident that Leave and Remain is a much wider gulf than left and right, so it's possible we could see fundamental restructuring in our political parties in the coming months, similar to when we saw the SDP formed in the late 1970s. We live in interesting times."