A record number of hate crimes have been recorded in Norfolk since the vote to leave the EU - Brexit has definitely resulted in anything but British prosperity.

The leave that was supposed to catapult the country into a victorious independence and financial phenomena, has actually been met with horrific xenophobia.

Creating a divide between the younger and older generations of the country, journalist Jon Snow claimed that we were in 'unchartered waters' following the referendum - a quote that now seems far too familiar.

I respect democracy and therefore have no issue with anyone who made an informed and responsible decision to vote leave.

I do have issues with those - generally the older generation - who made their vote based on the propaganda of right wing media.

Voting is necessary, but informed voting is of dire necessity.

Leaving the EU means science, medicine and technology all risks losing funding. The EU also currently enforces anti-discrimination laws, paid parental leave and regulated working hours, putting these all in jeopardy as well.

Obviously there will be perks too: Britain is perfectly capable of independent trading without the 'bureaucratic burden' of being bound to the EU.

These are all entirely justified reasons on which to base your vote. An unjustified reason, however, is to vote because you dislike Eastern Europeans, black people, refugees or immigrants, who are all completely and entirely within their rights to be here.

Compared to other European countries, we take in barely a fraction of Syrian refugees, and here in Norfolk, a vote was taken over whether to take a measly 50 or not.

Prejudice should never be used as a factor in democracy, it's hypocritical and it creates a mess that my generation will have to work to fix.

Brexit was popularly fronted by Nigel Farage.

Basing his argument for the leave campaign heavily on the NHS (specifically, the money that it so desperately needs), we were disappointed on cue the morning after the referendum results as that turned out to be a lie.

Farage specifically labelled the result as 'independence day' for Britain.

I can't even begin to express how offensive that I - a young person who was born as a result of refugee immigration - find this.

The UK hasn't been oppressed by the EU.

While under 18s can't currently vote because they're not qualified to make an informed decision, the over 70s clearly don't know what they're doing.