VOTERS in Gwent firmly threw their support behind the Brexit campaign on Thursday, with all but one area voting to leave the European Union.

Monmouthshire was the only area in the region where the Remain campaign attracted more support, with voters in Newport, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen and Caerphilly all backing Leave.

Newport voted 56 per cent to 44 in favour of leaving the union, with a turnout of 73,708, or 70.2 per cent – nearly 30 per cent higher than in last month’s Assembly election.

Speaking after the result was announced at Newport’s Velodrome, Labour Newport East MP and Remain campaigner Jessica Morden said she was disappointed.

“It is important to learn from this,” she said.

“We have to respect the wishes of the electorate.”

Vote Leave campaigner Andrew Butcher said the result was “indicative of how remote Welsh politics has become from the electorate.

“It has absolutely demonstrated that and politicians need to learn from it,” he said. “I hope they listen.”

Turnout in Monmouthshire – where voters backed Remain 50.4 per cent to 49.6, with a margin of just 492 votes – was the highest in Wales at a massive 77.7 per cent.

With the area’s MP David Davies one of the most high profile figures in the Leave campaign, some expressed surprise at the result.

But the Conservative MP himself said he was pleased by the high turnout.

“People have come out to vote in their numbers in this referendum, some for the very first time,” he said.

“I think that both sides have run successful and good-natured campaigns, with some light-hearted banter which is what politics should be about.”

The margin in Blaenau Gwent was much wider, with 21,587 voters, or 62 per cent, backing Leave. In comparison, only 13,215, or 32 per cent, voted to remain in the EU.

Pro-EU Blaenau Gwent AM Alun Davies said he was disappointed by the result

He said: “We need to think hard about how we respond to a series of votes not simply here in Blaenau Gwent but the south Wales valleys and elsewhere in Wales.”

“As a Labour party we need to respond to that.”

The Labour AM added the lead-up to the vote had been “the ugliest political campaign I can remember in my life”.

Turnout in Blaenau Gwent, as with the UK as a whole, was unusually high at 68.1 per cent.

The Leave campaign also scored a resounding victory in Torfaen, where 59.8 per cent of voters, or backed Brexit, compared with 40.2 per cent who voted to remain in the EU. Again, turnout was high at 48,172, or 69.9 per cent.

Newly-elected Ukip AM for South Wales East David Rowlands was at the county at Pontypool Active Living Centre and said he believed the result was down to fears around immigration.

“Immigration, without any doubt, was the issue that people kept on bringing up on the doorsteps,” he said.

“I told the Labour party and Plaid Cymru in the Assembly that you are ignoring people on the doorstep. If you do that, you will be punished for it. They have real fears about this issue.”

He added he believed people in the area were “desperate for a change”.

“What hasn’t come across to people is that you are not voting for the status quo, you are voting for things to change in the future,” he said.

“I really do think the people are desperate for a change.”

Torfaen MP Nick Thomas-Symonds, who campaigned for Remain, said he was disappointed by the result, but wanted to put the interests of the borough first.

“The real important thing to me about this campaign is that voters in Torfaen and across the country come back together again,” said the shadow employment minister.

Speaking before the overall UK result was announced, he added: “Clearly there are concerns in the area which we need to listen to but whatever the outcome of this referendum is overall, the result has to be respected and for the democratic process.

“I respect the result of the referendum either way as I am a democrat.

“It is very important that we come together. I’ve spoken to family members who have voted in different ways and it just goes to show that the division there has been – the division of opinion.

“It is important that politicians do now accept the result, move on and do the best we can.”

And in Caerphilly the 53,295 voters, or 57.6 per cent, backed Brexit, compared with 39,178 throwing their support behind the UK remaining in the UK. Turnout was an impressive 70.7 per cent.

Chairman of the town’s Ukip branch and former Assembly candidate Sam Gould was reduced to tears by the result.

He claimed he and fellow Leave campaigners had put everything they had into the campaign, but had been abused "by those in authority" and had faced "oppression" from Caerphilly council.

"I have had everything from the establishment trying to stop us from getting this result,” he said.

“Everything has been against us but the people are with us.

"We have voted to leave in what was said to be a Europhile area."

But the town’s newly-elected AM and Remain campaigner Hefin David said he was concerned Ukip did not have a plan for what comes after the UK leaving the EU.

Although he acknowledged people have concerned about the organisation, he stressed that Wales gets more out of the EU than it puts in.

"It could be about control of our borders - that came out on the doorstep," he said.

But he added he was concerned France the Republic of Ireland might not be inclined to police their borders with the UK so closely if it leaves the EU.

Mr David also said that Wales must have a strong plan for forging and safeguarding its future.