THE vote to leave the EU has caused a seismic division in the country that may need a generation to heal, the Bishop of Swindon fears.

“Perhaps what concerns me most is that the vote shows how divided we are within the UK itself,” said Rt Rev Dr Lee Rayfield in the wake of the referendum.

“In his day, Jesus of Nazareth warned that a house divided against itself cannot stand. The vote to leave the EU will have seismic implications and the divisions it has revealed are unlikely to be healed or bridged in the short term and may require a generation.

“My hope is that, in the shadow of this decision, communities across Great Britain and Northern Ireland will see the danger signs more clearly and have greater wisdom and urgency in engaging with them.

“Now that we have placed ourselves the other side of this defining point in our history perhaps we can begin by owning that this vote is our vote as a United Kingdom – not simply what someone else has chosen.

“From this shared position we will need to listen much more attentively to the concerns of those who voted differently and endeavour to rebuild our common life.”

He said he was shocked and deeply troubled when he woke up to the result of the vote on Friday morning.

“In my heart I had not imagined we would make such a choice and my sense is that we do not truly know the future which we have now set in motion. A few core issues, notably those related to migration, employment and housing, carry high emotional freight and I suspect this has been reflected in the ballot box.”

He said the UK faced many issues that were common to other member states and it could be that Britain’s withdrawal could lead to others making the same decision.

“My own conviction is that we are better addressing the challenges of our increasingly complex societies and global problems together,” he said.

“The vote to leave sends a clear signal to our neighbours that we believe the future lies in our own hands and can navigate it better on our own. That may well be an attitude shared by many in other European countries but I do not believe it is either wise or realistic.”