Should there be wholesale electoral reform in Scotland following this morning's EU declarations?

While the UK as a whole voted to leave the European Union, Scotland voted by 62 per cent to 32 per cent to remain.

In the Scottish Borders a 73.4 per cent turn out (64,953 of the 88,440 electorate) voted by 58.5 per cent to 41.4 per cent to remain.

London and Northern Ireland also voted in favour of the status quo with Brussels.

The Electoral Reform Society Scotland has now called for a constitutional convention to avoid “constitutional chaos”.

The result has led to renewed calls for Scotland to find a way of staying in the EU despite the UK-wide result.

And the Scottish Green Party has launched a petition called “keep Scotland in Europe” which asks Holyrood’s politicians to “examine and exhaust every option for continuing Scotland’s close ties with Europe".

ERS Scotland spokesman Rory Scothorne said: “We are clearly in uncharted political waters here.

"The governments of the UK should very quickly issue a joint holding statement on how they might plot a course through this turbulent constitutional time.

"This vote poses big questions about the constitution of the UK as a political entity going forward, with the UK’s nations divided. Without action now we risk descending into constitutional chaos, and it’s vital that the public are involved in the discussions that lie ahead about the ramifications of this split vote. "Despite an unremittingly negative campaign, people took their democratic duty seriously and turned out in higher than expected numbers. The public's appetite to engage in constitutional issues, seen first in the independence referendum and reflected in yesterday’s turnout – higher than the recent Holyrood election – is clear. The referendum should mark the beginning not the end of involving the public in shaping future democracy in Scotland and the UK.

“It’s more clear than ever that we need a citizen-led constitutional convention to bring citizens and politicians together to seriously discuss the democratic future of the UK. The constitutional changes we’ve seen in recent years have been piecemeal and ad hoc – it’s time for some joined-up deliberation and to let the public in. All parties across the UK should now come together to discuss how best to start this essential process.”