Stuart Love, Chairman of UKIP Stroud, gives his reaction to the result:

DESPITE doom-mongering on an unprecedented scale, the ordinary men and women of this country still voted with a clear majority to leave the EU.

They did this because they felt disenfranchised and unrepresented, because they felt that no-one was listening to them, and indeed hadn’t done so for some considerable time, and because they were worried about the future for their children and their grandchildren.

These legitimate worries and concerns found expression in the ballot box, and they must be respected. There must be no second referendum, and MPs must not thwart the will of the people in the House of Commons.

We are now clearly in a period of transition. The two-year time frame for Brexit was provided for by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and it has been extended for a few months by David Cameron’s refusal to trigger it immediately after the vote to leave, despite his earlier assurances that he would do so.

It is now apparent that Mr Cameron was so confident of victory that no clear instructions were given to the Civil Service to make preparations for how Brexit would be managed.

This was grossly negligent, but it behoves all of us now – including those on the Remain side – to work together for the common good, to reassure the markets, and to promote stability and investor confidence.

Both the Conservatives and Labour are now so deeply ensconced in their own civil wars that they risk harming the country, and prolonging the potential for instability, especially with talk of a second referendum.

People are getting on with their daily lives. Holiday bookings are not down. Employers are still recruiting, and many local companies have sent positive and upbeat messages to their staff about their future prospects. The property market hasn’t collapsed. Certainly the pound and some shares have fallen, but they will bounce back. At close of business on Friday the FTSE 100 was back to where it had been on Tuesday of last week, two days before the vote itself.

Now is the opportunity for the UK to get back out into the world, to trade on equal terms with the world’s growing economies as well as those in the EU, and to direct the resources of this country for the benefit of all of its people, whatever their background may be.

The result of last week’s referendum was a clear vote of no confidence by the ordinary people of this country in both the Conservative government and the Labour opposition. Clearly the government no longer has a mandate to govern and should resign and call a General Election at the earliest possible opportunity.