REDDITCH MP Karen Lumley has hailed the referendum result on EU membership a victory for the people and for democracy.
Speaking to the Redditch Standard the day of the result, an exhausted Mrs Lumley, who’d stayed up all night to see the drama unfold, said: “It was good, the result is decisive, the turnout was brilliant and it just shows that the people were fully engaged in the debate.”
The only Worcestershire MP to join the Brexit camp, Mrs Lumley also expressed little surprise that Redditch had voted with her in rejecting the European Union.
“Everywhere I went people were overwhelmingly in favour of leaving,” she said.
However, she expressed her sadness at David Cameron’s decision to step down as Prime Minister.
“I am disappointed as I voted for him when he became leader and I owe him my election victory in 2010, but his position was untenable. Now there has got to be someone new and in my view this has got to be a Brexiter to do the deal with Europe.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime result and I think the PM worked really hard, he won us an historic election victory just last year but politics is a tough old game and you’ve got to be able to lose as well as win.”
On a possible successor, she said: “My ideal would be either Michael Gove or Boris Johnson, I have known Michael for years while Boris Johnson is a good friend, but it will be up to my colleagues to decide.”
However, she ruled out any ambition of her own and instead called for the Conservative Party and the people of the UK to accept the result and come together to work for the common good.
“We have got to stop the in-fighting and the name calling and get on with doing what the people out there expect us to do and that’s work in the best interests of the country.”
Also at the centre was Redditch veteran Labour Councillor Pat Witherspoon, who expressed her disappointment at the result.
She said: “I feel the result of the referendum is a retrograde step and I do not see us being able to compete in the world as a small island on our own. I feel very sad at the result – what on earth does it say about us?”
