Green groups voiced their disappointment at today’s referendum result for Britain to leave the EU.

Environmentalists fear the decision means that certain environmental protections will cease to apply.

Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Green party have each announced that these protections must be upheld despite our exit.

Reacting to the results of the vote, Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said: “Many of the laws that make our drinking and bathing water safe, our air cleaner, our fishing industry more sustainable and our climate safer now hang by a thread.

“Over the coming months we all need to demand that the government replaces European regulations protecting nature with new UK laws that are just as strong.”

The Green Party has seen a surge in membership applications this morning. Caroline Lucas, the party’s MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “Britain has voted to leave the EU – but that does not give the Government a mandate to slash rights at work or cut environmental regulations.

“We now have a colossal fight on our hands to protect our environment and social protections from the worst instincts of Tory ministers. We’ll be working with trade unions and others to guard their hard won rights at work and standing side by side with environmental movements resisting any attempt to weaken environment protections.”

And Friends of the Earth also wanted the government to make sure the UK, ‘didn’t return to the days of the dirty man of Europe’.