WORCESTER’S MP Robin Walker said David Cameron would be ‘sorely missed in the years to come’ after the Prime Minister revealed he was resigning following Britain’s vote to leave the EU.
Mr Cameron announced he would stand down as leader and Prime Minister in time for the party’s conference in October.
He led the remain campaign which was defeated by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in yesterday’s (Thursday) historic referendum.
The Prime Minister’s resignation follows a dramatic night in which voters across Worcester voted to leave the European Union.
Turnout in the city at 73.8 per cent and saw 53.6 per cent of residents (29,114) vote to leave while 46.4 per cent expressed their wish to remain (25,125).
Speaking about the Prime Minister’s decision to resign, Mr Walker said: “I understand the Prime Minister’s reasons for announcing that he will be standing down but regret that he is going.
“I do not think that people will fully appreciate what we are losing until he has gone. I will use the process of selecting a new leader for our party and our country to push for moderation and the continuation of a one nation approach.”.
Mr Walker said he fully accepted the mandate handed down by voters and paid tribute to everyone involved with the poll.
“The voters who voted in record numbers, achieving the highest turnout in Worcester since the 1997 General Election, the council staff who manned polling stations and supervised voting, including helping many young and first time voters to take part and the people who stayed up late into the night to count the votes.
“I want to thank all of the more than 25,000 people who voted Remain with me in Worcester and congratulate the more than 29,000 who voted leave on winning the day. As so often in politics, Worcester has been a model for the national mood.”
“Many kind and thoughtful people who I respect will have voted for each side and whichever won, I would be advocating that we all come together to work in the interests of the UK.
“As I said in 2011 when I first voted for a referendum I wanted everyone in Worcester to have their say and now they have.”
“We have already seen noises from the SNP in Scotland and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, pursuing the break-up of the United Kingdom and I am convinced that this is not in our best interests or their people’s.
Mt Walker said he welcomed the support David Tibbutt and David London, two former doctors who did so much to make the case in Worcester and the activity of Rabiya Baig, our chairman of Conservative Future.
“There are many matters on which I disagree with the Labour party locally, but I have to commend the dedication of Coun Squires, my opponent in the last General Election and former councillor Richard Boorn who both campaigned enthusiastically.
“I want all of Worcester to prosper within an independent sovereign UK and all of us need to pull together to make sure that it can,” he added
