The European Union referendum vote shows Britain to be a disunited kingdom. But rather than causing the disarray, the Brexit result has only exposed society’s deep divisions

One of the most chilling statements in these last momentous days came from Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish Nationalists. She was making the predictable case for a second referendum on independence for Scotland on the grounds that all has been utterly changed by last week’s vote on Europe.

“That United Kingdom no longer exists,” she said. She meant the United Kingdom of 2014, when the Scots decided they wished still to be within it, and what was so chilling about her assertion is that she was right: since the early hours of last Friday morning it is evident that we are now a divided country, split not just about the politics of Europe but divided by age and culture, by geography and wealth and education.

The statistics spell it out. The highest proportion of those who voted to remain in Europe were people with degrees, followed by better-paid people with professional occupations. While the turnout among young people was lower than the 72 per cent average, a stunning 73 per cent of those aged under 24 voted to stay in Europe in contrast to the 60 per cent over 65 who backed Brexit. People without jobs, or passports (or hope, perhaps?) voted to leave because, as my former Daily Mirror colleague, Joe Haines, perspicaciously remarked, the poor, or unemployed, rarely vote for the status quo.