Nigel Farage says he hopes Brexit victory will bring down the whole 'failed project' of the EU

Eurphoric Ukip leader senses victory and tells supporters: '“Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day!'

As he sensed victory in the EU Referendum, Ukip leader Nigel Farage told a wildly cheering crowd he hoped a Brexit victory would be a “victory for the whole of Europe” and bring down the whole “failed project” of the EU.

At 4am, shortly before dawn, and with the results suggesting the country was on course to vote leave in the EU referendum, Mr Farage told ecstatic supporters: “Dare to dream that dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom.”

Arms outstretched, he closed his speech to the faithful by bellowing: “Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day!”

As he spoke, about 270 out of 382 results had been declared and Leave was ahead of Remain by more than 600,000 votes, with experts predicting the gap would widen further.

Mr Farage told his supporters, some of them holding up Union Flags: “If the projections now are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people.”

Mr Farage, who at the start of the night had admitted he thought Remain had “edged it”, added: “We have fought against the multinationals. We have fought against the big merchant banks. “We have fought against big politics. We have fought against lies, courrption and deceit, and today honesty, decency and belief in nation, I think now, is going to win.”

The victory, he told campaigners, would be “not just for ourselves.”

“We have done it,” he said, “For the whole of Europe. I hope this victory brings down this failed project and leads us to a Europe of sovereign nations, trading together, being friends together, co-operating together. And let’s get rid of the flag, the [EU] anthem, Brussels and all that has gone wrong.”

As he declared that June 23 should be independence day, he received wild cheering and applause.

On the currency markets, however, the pound was falling to a 31-year low against the dollar as markets reacted strongly to the Leave campaign taking a clear lead.

A strong position for the pound earlier, after polls had suggested a narrow lead for Remain, collapsed in spectacular fashion as traders reacted to the Leave lead.

The Associated Press reported the crash in value for Sterling as one of the biggest in history in a single day, plummeting from aroun $1.50 to below $1.35. It is the first time it has done so since 1985.