The city of Sunderland in north eastern England voted more strongly than expected to leave the European Union at a membership referendum on Thursday.

According to official results, 61.3 percent of voters in Sunderland backed leaving the bloc, above the 56.5 percent predicted by J.P. Morgan in analysis published before the vote.

Sunderland, one of the first few results to declare, has a large number of older, lower income voters who polls show are more likely to back so-called "Brexit". If Leave had not been strongly ahead here, it could have indicated they would struggle to break through in areas less favourable to Brexit.