Brexit: Dispatches From Farageland on Referendum Day

As waves crash on the sandy beaches of muggy Margate it is hard to tell if the town is on the verge of a sunny spell or a storm.

The seaside town, in the south-east district of Thanet, is the heartland of British Euroskepticism. Today there is a conflicting atmosphere of unrest and excitement. In less than 12 hours, the Brexit-backing constituency will either be celebrating or commiserating, as Britain votes to Remain or Leave the European Union.

"The people of Margate are proper people," Ukip's leader Nigel Farage tells Newsweek on the day of the vote. "They are patriotic and they care about Britain. They also want to see Margate harbour with some fishing boats in it again.

"It is clear that they are excited about the prospect of an independent Britain, in control of its borders."

Farage's nod to the formerly busy, commercial port comes one week after he took to the River Thames in a demonstration that fought for Kent fishermen who "want to earn a living that is made impossible by the EU."

Musician and activist Sir Bob Geldof boarded a boat on the river to oppose Nigel Farage's pro-Brexit flotilla, which was making its way towards parliament, and the rival sides clashed over the impact leaving the EU would have on the British fishing industry.The flotilla, of up to 35 boats, had been organised by Scottish skippers as part of the Fishing for Leave campaign.

"The fishing industry has had a raw deal since the U.K. entered into Europe and I would say 99 percent of the fleet want out," says Chairman of Thanet Fishermen's Association, John Nichols. "We fully accept that we need to work within quota systems and we fully accept rules and regulations. But rules and regulations made by the U.K. government, not by people in Brussels."

Thanet has two parliamentary constituencies, North Thanet and South Thanet, and a single local council, also called Thanet. Within Thanet there is Ramsgate, а former ferry port on the south side of the peninsula; Broadstairs, a sandy beach resort facing east; and Margate, the faded one-time summer playground of industrial Britain, to the north.

In Margate, on the eve of the referendum, the coast is busy with rumors of Britons being passed over for minimum wage jobs in favour of Eastern Europeans and other immigrants.

"I'm out," Dave, 48, shouts as he leaves a polling station in Margate, pointing east, towards the sea. "Out, out, out. We need to take back control of our borders.

"At the moment, everyone and anyone can come over here and take advantage. It's time for the British government to take care of British people first."

Dave, who declined to provide his second name, is not the only voter making this point as they leave the booth.

"There is a lot of support for UKIP's approach here in Margate," Jeff Elenor, councillor for Margate Central, tells Newsweek . "We are very close to Europe here and there is a lot of history, when you think about everything that happened in the war and the threat that being close to the channel presents. It's all about what we want to be a part of. The people here do not think of themselves as European people, they think of themselves as Kent people.

"I have been out to a few of the polling stations and generally they have been very busy. I've been wearing my Vote Leave badge and getting some smiles and pleasant waves.

"The people here aren't racist. They are good, kind, nice people who will be swayed by the issue of immigration because of the numbers. Anyone with any sense will be swayed by the numbers."

Aside from the issue of immigration, there is a deep-rooted Euroskepticism in many British coastal towns which appears to have more to do with an economic feeling of being left behind. If you sit on Margate beach and turn inland, away from the sea and everything it symbolises, you see a row of shoddy arcades, flaking houses and public toilets covered in graffiti. Margate has the promise of a bustling seaside resort, but it is lacking in comparison to Brighton and Whitstable, for example, which are a train-ride round the coast but miles away in terms of social and economic success.

Even inland, western parts of Kent, such as Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone, are comfortable in their share of renewed economic growth. In the far east of the county there are pockets of deprivation. While Vote Leave's campaign claims Britain sends millions to the EU each year, the people of Margate come to the conclusion that the money could be better spent much closer to home.

But there is a Remain camp in town.

Louise Oldfield, who has run three-bedroom B&B The Reading Rooms with husband Liam since 2009, is among those who signed the letter to The Times backing a future within the EU.

"We are one of the most socially deprived places in the south east and indeed the country," she tells Newsweek . "But contrary to a lot of people, I think a vote to leave will hit the small businesses, and therefore seaside towns like Margate, the hardest.

"Margate is highly dependent on tourism and the successful regeneration story that we are on the cusp of is built on EU funding. I'd like to ask Brexiteers if they enjoy drinking in any of the new bars on the front.

"The reality is, we don't have backing from Westminster. Westminster left us to rot. Are we going to go back to the 1970s where sewage covered our beaches? I am afraid of the cuts that will come in the result of a Brexit.

"I think this referendum should never have been called and the way it has been handled is foolhardy. I am saddened to see the level it has fallen to.

"I grew up in Sheffield and left in 1989, got on a bus to Berlin and studied German, then I moved to Italy where I met my husband, then I moved to London. My whole existence is based on being a part of Europe. If this country turns into a Little England I don't recognise, I will consider moving.

"It is ironic that I come out of my house, where there is a Vote Remain sign in the window, and I have topless, white middle-aged men, drinking lager in the street, talking about my poster."

Across Kent, YouGov's Euroskeptic Map of Britain ranks the county as "leaning towards Brexit," but on the ground there is a wariness, particularly in the small-business sector, and among young professionals who have packed up and moved to Margate from London, lured here by the promise of cultural and economic growth—the Turner Contemporary art gallery opened to much fanfar in 2011.

"I want to be proud to be British and European, is that allowed?" jokes Clare, 28, on leaving a polling station.

With the count officially beginning at 10pm, the Electoral Commission has forecast results in Kent will mostly be declared between 3am and 4am.

"The mood tonight will be great once we see the local results come in," Counsellor Elenor says. "The disappointment will start when the news comes in from other parts of the country, and even the county. We might be looking forward to an out vote here, but not everywhere is."