EVENTS in West Dorset reflected the close nature of the national vote as the Leave campaign claimed victory by a narrow margin.

The result saw 33,267 residents of the district vote to leave the European Union and 31,924 to remain, or 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

The count took place at St Osmund's Sports Centre in Dorchester and there was a tense atmosphere among supporters for both sides of the campaign as it became clear the result would be tight.

After the numbers were confirmed just before 3am, chairman of UKIP Dorset Graham Brant said the victory was fitting reward for the efforts of those involved in the Leave campaign in the district and the way UKIP members and fellow Vote Leave supporters had worked together.

With the national outcome still to be decided, he said: "I'm absolutely thrilled but still holding my breath for the national results.

"I have been campaigning against the EU for 41 years and all the people I have worked with in the last year and the last few months have been superb.

"They have worked their socks off and they deserve the result we have got."

Mr Brant added: "The people who voted to remain will in the end thank us for what we have achieved."

Sean Lusk from the Dorchester Stronger In campaign group said that, regardless of the result, he had been proud of how the efforts of his group had engaged local people.

He said: "I think from a standing start, because there wasn't a pre-existing organisation, we are quite pleased.

"We have pulled together a lot of people, lots of them have not been involved in politics before, and when we have been out on the streets the reactions have been pretty positive."

Mr Lusk added that, although the Leave campaign had won in the district it had been close and he was "pretty satisfied with the result".

The turn out figure for West Dorset was 79.5 per cent, with 65,237 people voting.

The figure was significantly up from last year's general election, where the West Dorset constituency had a turn out of 72.6 per cent.

Chief executive of West Dorset District Council. Weymouth and Portland Borough Council and North Dorset District Council Matt Prosser praised the efforts of staff from all three authorities who had been involved in the counts on the night and those who had helped to man the polling stations during the day.

He said: "It's been a really good effort by the teams across all three councils and that's been shown by the accuracy of the final results.

"It's been quite a busy day out in the polling stations as well so my thanks go to all those people we called upon to support us."