UK votes to Leave EU

[drunkenshoe]

Brexit: UK votes to leave EU in historic referendum

The UK has voted to leave the European Union after 43 years in a historic referendum.

Leave won by 52% to 48% with England and Wales voting strongly for Brexit, while London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed staying in the EU.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed it as the UK's "independence day" but the Remain camp called it a "catastrophe".
The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results.
Follow the latest developments on our live page

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Labour 'must change' after EU campaign

The referendum turnout was 71.8% - with more than 30 million people voting - the highest turnout at a UK election since 1992.
Wales and the majority of England outside London voted in large numbers for Brexit.
Labour's Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the Bank of England may have to intervene to shore up the pound, which lost 3% within moments of the first result showing a strong result for Leave in Sunderland and fell as much as 6.5% against the euro.

'Independence day'
UKIP leader Nigel Farage - who has campaigned for the past 20 years for Britain to leave the EU - told cheering 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".

Germany's foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier described the referendum result as as "a sad day for Europe and Great Britain".
But Leave supporting Tory MP Liam Fox said voters had shown great "courage" by deciding to "change the course of history" for the UK and, he hoped, the rest of Europe.
And he called for a "period of calm, a period of reflection, to let it all sink in and to work through what the actual technicalities are," insisting that Mr Cameron must stay on as PM.

Exit process

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the EU vote "makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union" after all 32 local authority areas returned majorities for Remain.

London has voted to stay in the EU by around 60% to 40%. However, no other region of England has voted in favour of remaining. The referendum has underlined the social and cultural gap between London and provincial England.

Remain's defeat seems to have been primarily the product of the decisions made by voters living north of the M4.
Throughout the Midlands and the North of England the level of support for Remain was well below what was required for it to win at least 50% of the vote across the UK as a whole.

Britain would be the first country to leave the EU since its formation - but a leave vote will not immediately mean Britain ceases to be a member of the 28-nation bloc.
That process could take a minimum of two years, with Leave campaigners suggesting during the referendum campaign that it should not be completed until 2020 - the date of the next scheduled general election.

The prime minister will have to decide when to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would give the UK two years to negotiate its withdrawal.
Once Article 50 has been triggered a country can not rejoin without the consent of all member states.
Mr Cameron has previously said he would trigger Article 50 as soon as possible after a leave vote but Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who led the campaign to get Britain out of the EU have said he should not rush into it.

But they also said they want to make immediate changes before the UK actually leaves the EU, such as curbing the power of EU judges and limiting the free movement of workers, potentially in breach the UK's treaty obligations.

The government will also have to negotiate its future trading relationship with the EU and fix trade deals with non-EU countries.

In Whitehall and Westminster, there will now begin the massive task of unstitching the UK from more than 40 years of EU law, deciding which directives and regulations to keep, amend or ditch.

The Leave campaign argued during a bitter four-month referendum campaign that the only way Britain could "take back control" of its own affairs would be to leave the EU.
Leave dismissed warnings from economists and international bodies about the economic impact of Brexit as "scaremongering" by a self-serving elite.

This was surprising. I personally thought it would be exactly the opposite with something around the current division, with London for Leave. The interesting is that London voting 60 % Remain, being the only one voting Remain in majority and the obvious geographical distribution of the Leave votes. Basically, it looks like this turned out to be an open fight between two different socio-economic cultures of Great Britain in UK.

A hard deal is waiting for them. Everything is going to change. And Scotland already voiced concern as they voted Remain. Would they try to break from UK? In a second second referendum after this one would Scots vote out? I have no idea. 

Let's hope this is not something triggered by the last year's refugee media campaign and that it is really not an emotional reaction overall goaded by media. IF that's the case and the concern about the economical impact is true, it is going to be bad in long term.

And most importantly would this trigger other countries consider voting out? Probably they'll sit to watch how UK is doing.


Come on Brits, what do you think? What did you vote for and why?

[SGOS]

Early yesterday, I kept hearing the polls were almost neck and neck, but suggesting Britain would remain.  Later in the day, the people that wanted to leave were even conceding defeat.  Then I wake up this morning and they had won.  This was a Hell of an election to watch.  Hope it works out.

[Munch]

I didn't vote, I just wanted to sit back and watch the fireworks.

[SGOS]

I didn't vote, I just wanted to sit back and watch the fireworks.

Both sides seemed deeply committed to their point of view, but I didn't get enough information over here to form much of an opinion.  The fact that it was close to a 50/50 split suggests... What?  I dunno.  Was it a divide between smart and stupid, corporate or individual, or based on ideological opinions?  I can't believe the outcome will be as dire or wonderful as either side paints it.  There was also a lot of talk about how it affects other European countries.  Those consequences could be important, but I still found it odd that so many outsiders, including Americans would have opinions about what Britain should do.

The world markets took a dive.  I guess that says something about what the wealthy think.  I hate to admit it, but when the stock market soars, somebody other than me benefits.  When it dives, it's not like I was participating in it to begin with.  It's someone else's wealth, and none of those people give a damn about what I might think.

I'll be listening for the predictions for the next week from the winners and losers in the British referendum.

[Mermaid]

Holy mother of fucking god.

[drunkenshoe]

There are so many stories out there. It's mostly scary and chaotic. It badly feels like this was a massive emotional reaction; a result of the media campaign(s) around refugee crisis affecting an already existent attitude.

There isn't literally ONE big article in the media -as far as I can see- on why 'Brexit so awesome and will save Brits'. WTF?  I mean just put one to save face, you just did it.

The best thing is 'a pile of myths about Brexit, but 3 reasons why it could be good'. ?

Independent
http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-10-best-places-to-emigrate-to-after-brexit--bJqpKLP3EZ

8 of the most misleading promises of the Vote Leave campaign, ranked in order of preposterousness

Good afternoon, and welcome to a brave new EU-free world.

Just to recap: the UK has voted to leave the European Union in a result that came down to just 1.39m votes.

The value of the pound has dropped through the floor. Sinn Fein are calling for a united Ireland. Prime minister David Cameron has resigned. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon has said that Scotland is looking at a new independence referendum. The Labour party has tabled a motion to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn.

And it's only lunchtime.

Leave campaign leaders Boris Johnson and Michael Gove promised the electorate an awful lot if we voted out, such as spending commitments to the tune of £111bn.

What's less clear, in the light of a fresh summer's day, is whether they actually have any clue whatsoever what the f--k they're going to do. It's not clear that they even really believed they could win.

Just some of the truthy flights of fancy that won't be coming true any time soon include:

1. We aren't going to see a fall in immigration levels

No one in the Leave campaign actually gave any target figures, at any time, ever. Conservative MEP Dan Hannan has already said this morning that people expecting immigration to come down will be "disappointed".

2. We aren't going to have an extra £100 million a week for the NHS

Nigel Farage has already told reporters today that the Leave campaign shouldn't have claimed that.

3. We aren't going to be able to stay in the single market

No other country has a set up like that: both France and Germany have made it abundantly clear that we are not going to be able to have our cake and eat it, ie, take advantage of the free-trade zone without contributing a single penny to it, as Leave says we will.

4. We aren't going to get our sovereignty back

Looks like we're going to get a new prime minister by the end of the autumn Conservative party conference. It'll be a short list of two people, nominated by MPs.

This unelected leader could then theoretically hold office unopposed until a general election has to be called in three year's time.

P.S. We still have the House of Lords. So there's that.

5. We aren't going to save £350m a week

The Leave claim that the UK gives £350m a week to the EU has been thoroughly debunked. But it was still emblazoned on their battle bus right up until the end:

6. We won't remain a world leader in research and development

UK investment in science and universities has dried up since the recession, whereas the EU gave us £7bn in science funding alone between 2007 - 2013.

We're also going to face new barriers to collaboration with European universities and research centres.

7. We aren't going to save £2bn on energy bills

Leave promised we could end VAT on household energy bills. While that's possible, it won't save us any money in reality because we rely on imports for so much of our energy.

Because the pound has fallen, inflation will go up, which means imports and thus our domestic energy bills will cost up to 12 per cent more than they currently do.

8. We aren't going to be a 'greater' Britain

Overnight the UK economy has already slumped from the fifth largest in the world to sixth.

More than £200 billion has already been wiped from the value of the UK stock market - or put another way, 24 years' worth of UK contributions to the EU.

[drunkenshoe]

Brexit: from an American perspective, there is only one good outcome

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/21/brexit-eu-referendum-american-perspective-bad-outcomes

While UK voters have good reasons to either stay in or leave the European Union this Thursday, a British exit would only hurt the US

While there are good reasons for British voters to either support or oppose the proposed withdrawal of the UK from the European Union, there is little argument at all from an American perspective that Brexit would hurt the US.

Analysis Brexit fallout: seven ways the EU referendum could damage US interests
From the economy to strategic alliances and the effects of resurgent nationalism, America has much to lose if Britain votes to leave the European Union

The strongest argument for the UK leaving the EU is that European bureaucrats have usurped many of the powers that should be vested in democratically elected officials in Westminster. Laws in Brussels are not made by people who can be readily held accountable to voters. Instead, a maze of one-size-fits-all bureaucracy has slowly and steadily eroded the role of national parliaments and other political institutions.

This is a convincing argument for British voters. However, it needn’t matter at all to Americans. What may matter to Americans, however, is the economic and national security impact of the UK deciding to leave the bloc.

There is consensus among economists that Britain leaving the EU would lead to a major economic shock, which would have worldwide impacts. In recent days, global markets have followed polls in the UK. The less likely it is that Britain leaves the better markets have done, and vice versa. Janet Yellen, the chair of the Federal Reserve, warned on Tuesday that Brexit could have “significant economic repercussions” in the US.

Furthermore, from a national security perspective, Brexit would deprive the US of a crucial window and important pro-American voice in pan-European meetings.

It also would risk Scottish independence, which would probably require the relocation of Britain’s nuclear submarines and weaken the UK’s military at a time when Europe faces a growing threat from Russian expansionism.

There is also an argument that the pro-Brexit campaign in the UK has set a disturbing trend for western democracies. Those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU have not focused on the gaping democratic deficit in European institutions. Instead, much of the campaign has focused on inflated anti-immigration rhetoric and demagoguery. One pro-Brexit poster unveiled by UK Independence party (Ukip) leader Nigel Farage featured a picture of a number of Middle Eastern refugees with the slogan “Breaking point: the EU has failed us all.” A win by pro-Brexit forces would be yet another signal of the potency of this variety of demagoguery in western politics and probably further influence the tone of what is already a historically divisive and bitter US presidential election.

British voters will make their decision on Thursday about whether the UK is better off within or without the European Union. And while the subject can be the topic of fair and reasonable debate in the UK, there is only one good outcome from the American perspective.

[Munch]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8UjkoFfG2Y

[drunkenshoe]

That's^ a huge bus ad. The big red ones you guys have. Sigh.

We all woke up to a very different world today. And I am afraid. Like I wasn't enough before all this.

[PopeyesPappy]

Politicians lying to their constituents in order to advance their agenda? Tell me it isn't true...

[Flanker1Six]

Meh! 

Lotta pissing and moaning prematurely. 

It may well turn out badly for the Brits; there are always bumps and dips in any country's national and international road; there'll be some of those in this new one too.  If any group takes a real hit; I'm guessing it will be the group running the EU.  My fearless prognostication is 3-5 more EU countries will bail within 5 years. 

Guess I better get over there, and visit the old country before it descends into a zombie apocalypse!    

[drunkenshoe]

Guess I better get over there, and visit the old country before it descends into a zombie apocalypse!   

   

[Hydra009]

I figured the UK would narrowly vote remain.  This outcome was unexpected.  This is the first time that I can recall that a country has successfully left a trade bloc.  With more and more of the world joining regional blocs - NAFTA, USAN, EU, African Union, ASEAN, etc - it's very surprising to see a country buck that trend.

What are the consequences of this move for the UK?  The EU?  The US?  I honestly haven't been following it that closely.  But I have heard talk of Northern Ireland and Scotland leaving the UK for the EU.  Whatever the Leave people expected to get out of this move, I hope it was worth it.

[GSOgymrat]

I found this entertaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAgKHSNqxa8

[drunkenshoe]

I figured the UK would narrowly vote remain.  This outcome was unexpected.  This is the first time that I can recall that a country has successfully left a trade bloc.  With more and more of the world joining regional blocs - NAFTA, USAN, EU, African Union, ASEAN, etc - it's very surprising to see a country buck that trend.

Good one.