QUINTON MP and chairman of the Vote Leave campaign Gisela Stuart has dismissed the political chaos after the referendum and reiterated her belief the UK will be better off out of the EU.

Ms Stuart said: "For much of the country life goes on as normal even though it has in many ways fundamentally changed.

"It is Westminster where the consequence of the vote is for now most profound and both political parties have turned inward.

"That is perhaps the inevitable consequence of momentous change momentarily breaking the ties that keep the parties intact."

She added: "At the same time it is now that leadership is most necessary. Emotions are inevitably raw and need to be steadied. We need clear heads and a clear vision. We also need to unite in opposing any outbreak of intolerance or racism; the wholly unacceptable attacks against the UK’s Polish community are one example. This is a time for coming together."

"Even while both parties are involved with questions of leadership, we need to begin to explore a way to a cross-party consensus on what the terms of the new relationship will be.

"At its core, I believe these new terms must recognise what it is that people voted for last week and the strength of feeling on both sides of the debate. I think we must accept that this was a vote for a fairer points based immigration system and a call for better health, education and housing."

Ms Stuart, who moved to the UK from Germany in 1974, believes the Vote Leave victory demonstrated how far removed politicians in Westminster are from their voters.

She said: "The vote was also a verdict on a political establishment that has become disconnected from the majority.

"Calls for a second referendum or to somehow work around last Thursday’s vote are a further sign of how out of touch many in the establishment have become.

"As the mood settles this week we need to focus more on why it is that the establishment got things so terribly wrong.

"Throughout the campaign people expressed a deeply held feeling that general elections change very little. The political parties largely stand for the same things or simply don’t deliver improvements in the lives of anyone beyond a privileged few."

She added: "This is a fractured nation but one that can come together. We have the chance now to rethink not just our relationship with the EU, but our relationship with each other and to move to a society based on social justice and opportunity that creates a greater unity of purpose and a stronger unity among its people."