Britain is in the midst of a "political, economic, and constitutional crisis" after voting to leave the European Union, Croydon's only Labour MP has warned.

As the financial markets tumbled and Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation, Steve Reed said yesterday's referendum result had ushered in a period of intense uncertainty for the country - but that it was "one the British people had voted for".

The Croydon North MP went so far as to call on London mayor Sadiq Khan to push for more devolved powers for the capital following the historic poll, after almost two-thirds of the city's voters backed remaining in the EU.

The Leave campaign emerged victorious nationally with nearly 52 per cent of the vote.

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But the majority of Croydon voters came out in favour of staying in the union, by a margin of 54.3 to 45.7 per cent.

Mr Reed's disappointment at the result was echoed by the borough's two Conservative MPs, Gavin Barwell and Chris Philp, who had both also campaigned to remain in the EU.

The Brexit vote was heralded by Croydon councillor and Greater London Assembly (GLA) member Steve O'Connell as a "victory for democracy" and welcomed by the borough's UKIP branch.

 As sterling dropped to a thirty-year low against the US dollar and share prices plunged in the wake of the vote, Mr Reed said the immediate priorities were to "stabilise the pound and protect the economy".

He added: "I'm sad, I thought the UK should stay in. Croydon voted to stay in, London voted to stay in...[but] although I am sad, we have to accept the democratic decision of the country."

But Mr Reed did not shy away from describing the impact of the result in stark terms.

He said: "It's a crisis. It' a political, economic and constitutional crisis - but it's one the British people have voted for."

Mr Barwell, the MP for Croydon Central, said he was "devastated about what the country has chosen to do", and that he was "very proud Croydon voted the way it did".

He added: "I think Steve its right, it’s very worrying, but people have voted...it's no good just sitting there saying people got it wrong."

An obviously deflated Mr Barwell also paid tribute to Mr Cameron, who announced his resignation following the result, describing the Prime Minister as the "most able politician of this generation".

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Mr Philp, who "reluctantly" chose to back the Remain campaign following a private meeting with the Prime Minister in February, said the result would be "particularly bad" for London because of its position as a financial capital.

He added: "Croydon came out in favour of remain, I guess that's because so many working age people commute to London in Croydon.

"But we will need to respect the will of the people."

Apart from London, the only region in Britain to overwhelmingly back remaining in the EU was Scotland, prompting speculating about a second indepedence referndum in the country.

In contrast to the MP's sombre tones, Cllr O'Connell said: "I'm delighted. The people of the country have spoken. I believe strongly that Britain's future will be stronger out of Europe, and I'm really pleased the country as a whole has that view."

The GLA member, who was the borough's highest ranking politician to come out in favour of leaving EU, accepted that the vote had been "quite close in Croydon".

But he added: "This is something that is bigger than individual boroughs - it's important for our children and our grandchildren".

In contrast to Mr Reed's warnings over a "crisis", Cllr O'Connell remained bullish about Britain's economic future.

He said: "Both sides of the fence knew there was going to be an initial dip....The markets don't like uncertainty - but now the markets kind of do have more certainty.

He added: "[During the campaign] some of the conversations and atmosphere have not been good. A lot of that has resulted [in] scaremongering...particularly the remain side.

"[But need to] move away from that...I will certainly be having a pint with colleagues tonight who voted the other way."

Peter Stavely, UKIP's Croydon branch chairman and the party's candidate in last month's GLA elections, went one step further and said he would be doing "a lot of drinking" in the coming days in celebration of the Out vote.

Mr Stavely, whose party leader Nigel Farage this morning described the referendum result as Britain's "independence day", said: "I know that Croydon was remain, but actually the margin was pretty low, and I think that's because we ran a very good campaign and we got out people to go out and vote."

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