Labour and the Conservatives in Ealing have clashed over the UK's decision to leave the European Union (EU).

The Remain campaign triumphed - winning 51.9% to 48.1% - following Thursday's (June 23) historic referendum on whether the country should cut ties with the EU.

Ealing voters, however, voted 60.4% in favour of remaining against the 39.6% of the borough's voters who opted for Leave.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the Remain campaign, announced his resignation earlier on Friday morning (June 24) .

But leader of the Ealing Conservative Group Greg Stafford has praised the turnout for the decision and vowed to work with people in the borough in a post-Brexit Britain.

He added: "After a truly historic night, the people of Britain have spoken.

"That the turnout was so high was testament to the seriousness with which the people of the UK and Ealing took this decision and a vindication of the decision by the Conservative Party to give the UK a referendum.

"All elected representatives must now work tirelessly to heal any perceived divisions and to ensure that Britain gets the best deal from the EU and from countries across the rest of the world in future negotiations.

"Clearly only the Conservative Party has the mandate and the ability to achieve the best deal for Britain and locally we shall be working with people in Ealing on both sides of the debate to harness our unique selling points to achieve the potential of a more prosperous Borough."

Ealing Tories wanted out

Earlier this month getwestlondon had rounded up opinion from politicians in Ealing on whether they would be voting in or out.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats were all in favour of staying in but UKIP said they would be voting to leave.

Tory councillors initially chose not to comment before making their position clear over a week later - with some in favour of being in and out.

But Labour Ealing Council leader Julian Bell hit back at Cllr Stafford's response to the UK's decision and accused him of being "out of touch".

Cllr Bell added: "Local Tory Leader Cllr Stafford's response shows how out of touch he is with most of his voters, who in Ealing voted decisively in large numbers to remain, and some of his fellow Ealing Conservative Councillors who also actively campaigned for remain.

"I'm proud that Ealing voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU but deeply disappointed the country did not do the same.

"Ealing is the third most diverse Borough in the country and we are comfortable with ourselves and despite this vote we will continue to look outwards and be a place that welcomes and values everyone from all over the world particularly those residents of our Borough from different parts of the EU.

"We must also continue to make it clear that Ealing is open for business and we will be looking to attract investment into our Borough from Europe despite this decision making things more difficult.

"We must hope that the dire economic predictions by the experts of the consequences of a leave vote do not come to pass."