Europe loses British union : The Tribune India

Join Whatsapp Channel

Europe loses British union

LONDON: Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow to the European project for greater unity since World War II.

Europe loses British union

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron



London, June 24 

Britain has voted to leave the European Union, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and dealing the biggest blow to the European project for greater unity since World War II.

Global financial markets plunged on Friday as results from a referendum showed a 52-48 per cent victory for the campaign to leave a bloc Britain joined more than 40 years ago.

The pound fell as much as 10 per cent against the dollar to touch levels last seen in 1985, on fears the decision could hit investment in the world’s fifth-largest economy, threaten London’s role as a global financial capital and usher in months of political uncertainty. The euro slid 3 per cent.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd)

World stocks saw more than $2 trillion wiped off their value, with indices across Europe heading for their sharpest one-day drop ever. Britain’s big banks took a $100 billion battering, with Lloyds, Barclays and the RBS plunging as much as 30 per cent at one point.

The United Kingdom itself could now break apart, with the leader of Scotland — where nearly two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the EU — saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was “highly likely”. An emotional David Cameron, who led the “remain” campaign to defeat, losing the gamble he took when he called the referendum three years ago, said he would leave office by October.

“The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction,” he said, fighting back tears before walking back through 10 Downing Street’s black door with his arm around his wife Samantha.

Quitting the EU could cost Britain access to the EU’s trade barrier-free single market and means it must seek new trade accords with countries around the world. A poll of economists predicted Britain was likelier than not to fall into recession in the coming year.

The EU for its part will be economically and politically damaged, facing the departure of a member with its biggest financial centre, a UN Security Council veto, a powerful army and nuclear weapons. In one go, the bloc will lose around a sixth of its economic output.

“It’s an explosive shock,” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said. “Now is the time to invent another Europe.” The result emboldened eurosceptics in other member states, with French National Front leader Marine Le Pen and Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders demanding their countries also hold referendums. — Reuters

Cameron signs off

The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.

I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship in coming months, but I do not think it would be right for me to captain that ship.

There is no need for a precise timetable today, but we should aim to have a new Prime Minister in place by the start of the Conservative conference in October.

A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and I think it’s right that this new Prime Minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU. I will attend the European Council next week and explain the decision the British people have taken, and my own decision.

We should be proud that in these islands, we trust the people with these big decisions. We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but in questions about how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves, and that is what we have done.

Although leaving Europe was not the path I recommended, I am the first to praise our incredible strengths. I’ve said before that Britain can survive outside the EU and now that the decision has been made to leave, we need to find the best way and I will do everything I can to help.

I love this country and I feel honoured to have served it.

Top News

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Jailed gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari dies of cardiac arrest

Ansari was hospitalised after he complained of abdominal pai...

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

Delhi High Court dismisses PIL to remove Arvind Kejriwal from CM post after arrest

The bench refuses to comment on merits of the issue, saying ...

Arvind Kejriwal to be produced before Delhi court today as 6-day ED custody ends

Excise policy case: Delhi court extends ED custody of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal till April 1

In his submissions, Kejriwal said, ‘I am named by 4 witnesse...

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

‘Unwarranted, unacceptable’: India on US remarks on Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest

MEA spokesperson says India is proud of its independent and ...

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Gujarat court sentences former IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt to 20 years in jail in 1996 drug case

Bhatt, who was sacked from the force in 2015, is already beh...


Cities

View All