Residents of Cumbria are resoundingly in favour of the UK leaving the European Union, an exclusive poll reveals today.

As St George's Day - England's most patriotic day - is marked across the county, 75 per cent of people who took part in a News & Star poll said they no longer want to remain part of the EU.

The survey, run on ours and websites of our sister CN Group publications, is the first snapshot of how Cumbrians are thinking.

But with campaigning intensifying two months ahead of the country going to the polls in the in-out referendum, there is clearly time for voters to be swayed either way.

The results - based on the answers of 1,860 participants - also reveal that immigration, UK autonomy and the cost of membership to the Union are among the main issues on which voters will base their decisions.

The poll revealed 97 per cent of those who responded plan to vote come referendum day. Of those who did not, a lack of trust in politicians was the main reason.

Of the politicians, it was Prime Minister David Cameron who emerged as the person people most trusted with EU policy, polling 38 per cent of the vote.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron came second (33 per cent), while Labour's Jeremy Corbyn was in third (29 per cent).

Our poll closed as US president Barack Obama sparked controversy with his forthright support for Britain's continued membership of the EU.

The intervention of Mr Obama, who yesterday enjoyed lunch with the Queen at Windsor Castle, has led to claims of hypocrisy from Brexit campaigners, who had urged him to "butt out" of the UK's decision on June 23.