Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party celebrates with supporters in London after the results were announced. PTI photo
London, June 24: Britain voted to leave the EU, toppling Prime Minister David Cameron Friday after the shock defeat in the referendum that triggered a bloodbath in world markets and opened a fresh debate over issues like immigration and advance of the right-wing across Europe.
Speculation mounted on Cameron’s successor with Boris Johnson, the 52-year-old flamboyant former London mayor who spearheaded the Leave campaign, emerging as the top contender with other senior conservatives such as Chancellor George Osborne and home secretary Theresa May also being mentioned in the race.
Brexit won by a wafer-thin majority in the referendum held Thursday that could rewrite Britain’s trade, including market access and services, with Europe and other countries, including India.
Shortly after the official announcement of the results, Cameron, who had gambled on the Remain campaign, stepped out of 10, Downing Street, to announce his intention to resign, saying a new Prime Minister should take charge in October to launch the process to leave the 28-nation bloc.
The referendum turnout was declared as 72.2 per cent with over 30 million people turning out to vote, reflecting the highest turnout in the UK since 1992.
The final result, overturning over four decades of the UK’s membership of EU, was officially declared as 51.9 per cent in favour of Brexit and 48.1 per cent in favour of Remain by the UK Electoral Commission’s chief counting officer Jenny Watson from Manchester Town Hall. A total of 17,410,742 voters emerged as Brexiters compared to the 16,141,241 that sided with Remain, leading to a Brexit victory by 1,269,501 votes.
London, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted strongly to stay in the EU but Brexit held strong in the north of England, the Midlands region, Wales and most English counties, sending world markets into a shock with the Pound Sterling in free-fall.
Britain, the second largest economy in Europe after Germany, is the second country after Greenland to quit the bloc.
After the results were declared, the 49-year-old Prime Minister, watched by his wife Samantha, sought to assuage investors and markets across the world that Britain’s economy is strong.
He also assured European citizens in Britain that there will be no immediate changes “in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move, or the way our services can be sold”.
The result drove sterling down
10 per cent to a 31-year low of $1.3229. European stock markets dropped 8 per cent at the opening bell. British banking shares lost a quarter of their value in morning trade.
Johnson said there is “no need for haste” to pull out of the EU and asserted that nothing will change in the short term. .
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the result a “blow” to Europe while French President Francois Hollande said it was a “grave test”. PTI