FOR some it was a great day in history – UK Independence Day and the day we got our country back.

But for others it was a disaster and arguably the greatest national act of needless self-harm since the Germans elected Hitler to power.

These are strong views but the past months have shown us through the correspondence in this newspaper the level of interest and passion that the EU Referendum debate has aroused.

Our two Members of Parliament, Philip Dunne in Ludlow and Harriett Baldwin in Tenbury, campaigned passionately to ‘Remain’ and say that while they accept the result they stand by their concerns and will do their best to mitigate the damage to local people and businesses that they expect to flow from the outcome.

This is no place for re-running the debate but there are important facts to consider of which, doubtless, our two MPs will be very aware.

Firstly, there was no need for a referendum. It was called in a bid to placate the pressure on the Prime Minister from his own minority of back-benchers and UKIP.

In an attempt that was always destined to fail, David Cameron played Russian roulette with the future of his country and lost. For this he will go down in infamy.

It is also a fact that the Referendum has left the country horribly, hopelessly and bitterly divided.

If one person in 50 had voted differently, the outcome would have been different and few of us will not have spoken to at least one person who voted ‘Leave’ as a protest but not expecting or really wanting that side to win.

The phrase ‘Oh my God what have we done’ may become a familiar one.

There is a huge division across the generations with those under 45 strongly in favour of Remain and a majority of the older age group opting to leave.

Many young people are very bitter that a generation which has generally done well has damaged their prospects.

They are angry that young people aged 16 and 17 and legally able to marry did not have a vote on an issue that will affect the rest of their lives, while the outcome was determined by people who will not have to put up with the consequences for too long.

It has even been suggested that there should have been an upper-end cut-off age for voting on this issue.

Outside of London there was a majority in England to ‘Leave’ while two in every three people in Scotland voted to remain.

Not two years ago, Scotland was told that an Independence vote would mean them leaving the EU. Now they face Brexit against their will and simply will not put up with it.

The call for a second Scottish Independence Referendum resulting in the end of the Union will be hard to resist.

Northern Ireland voted for to stay in the EU and we have already had calls for Ulster to join become part of a unified Ireland on the back of this.

Just over the border from Ludlow is Wales which, as a deprived area, has benefited hugely from membership of the EU. We can neither be sure that there will not be a clamour for an independence referendum from the Welsh nor a certainty in the current climate of what the outcome of such a vote might be.

At no time since the Second World War has this country faced such a major economic, constitutional and political crisis.

The difference is that during the war the nation was united in a common cause.

Now it faces a dark future, hopelessly and horribly divided.