EU referendum: MP Owen Paterson claims polls all pointing to Brexit

The former Tory minister, a major Leave campaigner, says he is buoyed by opinion polls that appear to be swaying towards an exit, including one that gave a 10-point lead.

He today said the poll reflected the mood of voters he had met at a number of events across the UK and Northern Ireland over the last week.

The latest survey by ORB for The Independent newspaper put the scores at 55 per cent to 45 per cent in favour of pulling out, after allowing for an individual's likelihood to vote

That is a four-point jump in support from April when Vote Leave led by 51 to 49 – and an exact reversal of the position when the series of surveys began a year ago.

Speaking at Bailey Head in Oswestry, where he was at a Brexit rally, North Shropshire MP Mr Paterson said: "I think it is always encouraging to see a poll like that. But we must not get too excited about the results of one poll.

"However, here at the Bailey Head, and everywhere else I have been this week, it has been absolutely overwhelming.

"A lot of people have already voted. We are trying to hand out leaflets and they are saying 'we don't need those, we have already voted to leave'.

"This is not a speculative poll we are talking about, these are real people and real votes.

"In Oswestry today I would say 80 per cent of the people we have spoken to were in favour of Leave – that is huge. It has been the same across the country.

"I have been to Cornwall, to Wiltshire, to Sussex. I went to Northern Ireland to an Ulster farmers rally. That was an interesting one, where the majority were in favour of Remain but by the end of the talk it had completely swung round the other way.

"There seems to be an overwhelming desire to Leave outside of London."

But Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, who is backing the campaign to stay in the EU, said it was not over yet. He spoke in the Shropshire Star last week of the need for Britain to remain in Europe, insisting that economic migration within the EU was a good thing.

"The talking and debating is nearly all over. Soon it will be time to vote," he said.

"Every vote has equal weight. Europe is not perfect, but I believe, on balance, Britain will be stronger, safer, and more prosperous in a reformed Europe."

As the battle intensfies nationally, Jeremy Corbyn made a fresh push to persuade Labour supporters to back keeping Britain in the EU. The former Shropshire schoolboy hailed the "positive, optimistic" case for remaining in the bloc.

"What I believe is that this is a practical decision that we take in order to get better conditions across the whole continent for everybody," he said.

More than £500,000 has been wagered on the EU Referendum in the West Midlands with a leading bookmaker, it was revealed today. Approximately 60 per cent of the bets in recent weeks have been for leave, with the remainder being placed on Remain.

One confident punter in the region even placed a £20,000 bet on Britain to leave the EU with Ladbrokes.

It comes after bookies across the UK began shortening odds on Britain to vote leave. At the time of writing, Ladbrokes had a Remain vote priced at 1/3, with a Leave vote at 12/5.

Midlands MP Pat McFadden, Labour's former Shadow Europe Minister and a prominent campaigner for Britain to remain within the EU, said the figures were "interesting" but that ultimately the decision would be up to voters and not punters.

He said: "Ultimately it will not be up to the pollsters or the punters who are betting, it will be up to the voters in a few weeks time. I think these things are interesting but it will be up to the voters."

Asked if he was confident of seeing a Remain vote for Britain, Mr McFadden added: "I never like to make predictions so I am not going to make one here. Remain is what I would like and we will wait and see how the voters vote in a few weeks time."

West Midlands MEP Bill Etheridge added: "The clever money at the bookies is backing Britain to leave the EU and rightly so. I am confident that the people of the West Midlands will vote for Brexit and lead the way for the rest of the country to follow suit."

The £20,000 placed on a leave vote by a West Midlands punter is not the only big bet to be placed on the referendum recently.

Earlier this week a punter up in Leeds staked an eye-watering £60,000 on Britain to remain in the EU.