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EU referendum: UK votes to leave in historic referendum

June 24th 2016

The UK has voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union after 43 years in an historic referendum. London and Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU but the remain vote has been undermined by poor results in the north of England. UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed the result as the UK’s “independence day”. The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results. The UK has voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union after 43 years in an historic referendum. London and Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU but the remain vote has been undermined by poor results in the north of England. UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed the result as the UK’s “independence day”. The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage – who has campaigned for the past 20 years for Britain to leave the EU – told supporters “this will be a victory for ordinary people, for decent people”. Mr Farage – who predicted a Remain win at the start of the night after polls suggested that would happen – said Thursday 23 June would “go down in history as our independence day”. He called on Prime Minister David Cameron, who called the referendum but campaigned passionately for a Remain vote, to quit “immediately”. A Labour source said:

“If we vote to leave, Cameron should seriously consider his position.”

But pro-Leave Conservatives including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have signed a letter to Mr Cameron urging him to stay on whatever the result. Labour former Europe Minister Keith Vaz told the BBC the British people had voted with their “emotions” and rejected the advice of experts who had warned about the economic impact of leaving the EU. He said the EU should call an emergency summit to deal with the aftermath of the vote, which he described as “catastrophic for our country, for the rest of Europe and for the rest of the world”.

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SOURCE = BBC News

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How did UK end up voting to leave the European Union?

June 24th 2016

Britain’s self-ejection from Europe is the culmination not just of four months of heady campaigning but four decades of latent Euroscepticism, which, through good times and bad, never really went away. Campaigners have agitated for EU withdrawal ever since the UK joined the common market in 1973. Labour’s official policy for the next decade was to quit, and a sizeable proportion of Conservatives have never been comfortable Europeans. The issue hounded John Major’s premiership, lay dormant through the Tony Blair years before rearing its head once again as the economy turned sour at the end of the last decade. David Cameron was keen to move his party away from “banging on about Europe” after he become leader. But once in Downing Street, he found it impossible to resist pressure from his backbenchers to call a poll as the idea of leaving the EU gained wider traction in the country with the rise of Ukip, populist rage against remote elites and discontent about immigration. Brexit, a term coined in 2012 before becoming mainstream political currency last year, moved from being a niche obsession to a victorious, mainstream political movement.

As prime minister, Cameron tried to throw his restless Eurosceptic backbenchers enough red meat to keep them happy – like withdrawing from the centre-right federalist EPP group in the European parliament. However, this would never be enough for the right of the Conservative party – from Iain Duncan Smith to John Redwood – who would stop at almost nothing to free the UK from what they see as rule by Brussels, even at the expense of tearing apart their party. Cameron’s troubles began as it became clear that the 2010 intake of Tories was more Eurosceptic than the last, as they set about applying pressure for a referendum from the outset. As early as October 2011, David Cameron realised he was facing years of trench warfare with Eurosceptic backbenchers after 81 Conservative MPs supported a referendum on Britain’s membership in the largest postwar rebellion on Europe. John Baron, the Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay in Essex, was one of the ringleaders with a letter from 100 colleagues demanding a referendum on the EU in July 2012. Cameron thought he had scored a Margaret Thatcher-style victory when he vetoed a rise in the EU budget later that year, but the episode appeared to inflame anti-Brussels feeling. In December of that year, Boris Johnson publicly called on Cameron to attempt to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU before calling a referendum.

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SOURCE = The Guardian

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EU referendum results: Did YOUR area vote Brexit or Remain?

June 24th 2016

Britain has apparently voted to leave the European Union – but was your area a Brexit or Remain stronghold? At around 4.45pm, ITV, the BBC and Sky News declared their calculations showed that Leave had built up an unassailable lead over Remain. The results for each area are still rolling in, however, and will continue until 7am.Type the name of your area in the box below to find out the result where you live.

Tory MP and Brexit campaigner Dr Liam Fox seems to think he can help lead a campaign promising to break Britain out of the EU, and then not actually go through with it. Dr Fox told BBC News: “A lot of things were said in advance of this referendum that we might want to think about again and that (invoking article 50) is one of them. “I think that it doesn’t make any sense to trigger article 50 without having a period of reflection first, for the Cabinet to determine exactly what it is that we’re going to be seeking and in what timescale. “And then you have to also consider what is happening with the French elections and the German elections next year and the implications that that might have for them. “So a period of calm, a period of reflection, to let it all sink in and to work through what the actual technicalities are.” Meanwhile, this German MEP reckons it’s a bit more clear cut than that.

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SOURCE = The Mirror

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The day the world changed: Britain WILL leave the EU after voters trigger a political earthquake by backing Brexit – sparking panic in the markets and effectively ending David Cameron’s time as PM

June 24th 2016

Britain has been hit by a political earthquake after the historic EU referendum delivered clear backing for Brexit – and effectively ended David Cameron’s career. The Leave campaign triumphed after stacking up votes across England and Wales – despite massive support for Remain in Scotland and major cities including London. The Prime Minister is expected to give his response to the dramatic verdict shortly, with speculation that he will herald the end of his tenure in Downing Street. Ukip leader Nigel Farage has hailed a ‘victory for real people’ and declared June 23 the country’s ‘Independence Day’. The Pound nose-dived to its lowest level against the US dollar for 31 years as traders took fright at the news, and the stock market is likely to be suspended to avoid a crash. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has already raised the prospect of a second independence referendum in Scotland.

The direction of the battle started to become clear with a shock result in Sunderland which saw the Out camp win by 61 per cent to 39 per cent. Analysis before the referendum had suggested Leave could be on track to win if they were more than six percentage points ahead. A surprise victory for Brexit in Swansea, where the pro-EU side had been expecting to romp home, signposted a disastrous showing for Remain across Wales. Areas like Carmarthenshire decisively turned their back on Brussels. Newcastle was less clear cut for the pro-EU side than they had hoped, seeing them sneak home by just 51 per cent to 49 per cent. Remain had some bright spots, with chunky wins in London, Scotland and Oxford. Wandsworth in particular piled in with a massive 77 per cent in favour of staying.

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SOURCE = The Daily Mail

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Britain votes to leave EU in historic divorce

June 24th 2016

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, results from Thursday’s landmark referendum showed, an outcome that sets the country on an uncertain path and deals the largest setback to European efforts to forge greater unity since World War Two. World financial markets dived as nearly complete results showed a 51.8/48.2 percent split for leaving. Sterling suffered its biggest one-day fall of more than 10 percent against the dollar, hitting a 31-year low on market fears the decision will hit investment in the world’s 5th largest economy. The vote will initiate at least two years of messy divorce proceedings with the EU, raise questions over London’s role as a global financial capital and put huge pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to resign, though he pledged during the campaign to stay on whatever the result. The euro slumped more than 3 percent against the dollar on concerns a Brexit vote will do wider economic and political damage to what will become a 27-member union. Investors poured into safe-haven assets including gold, and the yen surged. European shares were on course to open 6 to 7.5 percent lower.

There was no immediate comment from the Bank of England. Global policymakers prepared for action to stabilize markets, with Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso promising to “respond as needed” in the currency market. Yet there was euphoria among Britain’s eurosceptic forces, claiming a victory they styled as a protest against British political leaders, big business and foreign leaders including Barack Obama who had urged Britain to stay in the bloc. “Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party. “If the predictions are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people … Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day.” He called the EU a “doomed project”.

By 5.41 a.m. (0441 GMT), 93 percent of the vote had been counted, making Leave’s lead impossible to reverse. Asked if Cameron, who called the referendum in 2013 and campaigned to stay in the bloc, should resign if Britain voted for Brexit, Farage said: “Immediately.” An aide working in Cameron’s office told reporters: “We’re in uncharted territory… Everyone’s just really tired. They haven’t slept.” The United Kingdom itself now faces a threat to its survival, as Scotland voted 62 percent in favor of staying in the EU and is likely to press for a new referendum on whether to become independent after its 2014 vote to stay in the UK.  Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday’s vote “makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union.” Northern Ireland‘s largest Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, said the result intensified the case for a vote on whether to quit the United Kingdom.

 

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SOURCE = Reuters

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Major British broadcasters project Great Britain will leave European Union

June 24th 2016

The three major British broadcasters – BBC, ITV and Sky News – projected early Friday that Great Britain will vote to leave the European Union. With 374 of the 382 counting areas declaring their vote totals, the “Leave” camp led by more than 1 million votes in a surprising turn of events. Each broadcaster predicted a four point victory for “Leave.” Britain’s Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said he believes that “Leave” campaign will win the vote. To cheers of his supports, Farage said “the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom! If the projections are now right, this will be a victory for real people, for ordinary people, a victory for decent people!”

“Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day!”

As results and projections started to pour in, the British pound plunged to a 31-year low. The figures delivered a deep shock to financial markets, overturning earlier anticipation of a narrow win for “remain.” The results paint a stark picture of a divided nation: Strong pro-EU votes in the economic and cultural powerhouse of London and semi-autonomous Scotland were countered by sweeping anti-Establishment sentiment for an exit across the rest of England, from southern seaside towns to rust-belt former industrial powerhouses in the north. “A lot of people’s grievances are coming out and we have got to start listening to them,” said deputy Labour Party leader John McDonnell.

“Few ‘remain’ strongholds are doing better than expected,” said John Curtice, a University of Strathclyde political scientist and BBC election analyst. “There are far more places where ‘leave’ are doing better than expected.” “It may be possible that the experts are going to have egg on their face later on tonight,” he said. A vote to leave the EU could destabilize the 28-nation bloc created from the ashes of World War II to keep the peace in Europe. A “remain” vote would nonetheless leave Britain divided and the EU scrambling to reform. The first results, from England’s working-class northeast, were a smaller-than-expected “remain” win in Newcastle and a bigger-than-expected “leave” vote in nearby Sunderland. The “leave” side also outperformed expectations in other areas of England, though “remain” was ahead in early Scottish results.

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SOURCE = FOX News

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U.K. heads for “Brexit” with historic vote on Europe

June 24th 2016

LONDON — After a hard-fought debate, voters in Britain decided the U.K. should leave the European Union in a historic referendum. With more than 30 million votes counted, the “leave” campaign clinched enough to make it mathematically impossible for “remain” to win, with a more than 1 million-vote advantage. The vote to leave — which took even advocates by surprise — is expected to have a dramatic impact on the global economy, and could end up changing Britain’s own borders with nationalists in Scotland and Northern Ireland quickly renewing their calls for independence. It could also fuel calls for referendums on leaving the EU in other members states, leaving the future of the union that rose out of the ashes of World War II in doubt. In Northern Ireland, the leader of nationalist party Sinn Fein said the British government had “forfeited any mandate to represent the economic or political interests” of that country. Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said her country cast an “unequivocal” vote to remain in the European Union — a result that raised the spectre of a new referendum on Scottish independence. Sturgeon said “the vote here makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union.”

The world’s financial markets reacted immediately, diving on Friday as the forecasts of a Brexit rolled in. Tokyo stocks plunged more than 7 percent and South Korea’s Kospi tumbled about 4 percent. Crude oil prices and U.S. futures also took a big hit. The British pound plummeted more than 10 percent in six hours while the yen surged nearly 4 percent to the U.S. dollar as investors seeking safety snapped up the Japanese currency. The pound initially soared as polls closed and two opinion surveys put “remain” ahead and two leading supporters of the “leave” campaign said it appeared the pro-EU side had won. But it then suffered its biggest drop in decades, plummeting from about $1.50 to $1.34 as results came in. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will immediately notify the EU of Britain’s intent to exit the union. Under EU rules, that will begin a maximum two-year countdown until the U.K.’s final withdrawal.

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SOURCE = CBS News

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