Britain votes to leave the European Union

Saturday, June 25, 2016

On Thursday, the United Kingdom (UK) voted to leave the European Union (EU) in a referendum.

During the referendum, voters were asked the following question with these options:

"Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?

Remain a member of the European Union

Leave the European Union".

Voters across the UK voted in favour of leaving the EU by a margin 52% to 48%. Support for this outcome was strongest across the majority of England and Wales, with London, Scotland, and Northern Ireland the only regions where the majority voted to remain a member of the EU.

Following the results, David Cameron announced his intention to resign as the UK's Prime Minister. It is expected he will remain in his post before the UK Conservative Party choose a new leader ahead of their annual conference in October. He also said he would not invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the process by which a member can leave the EU, leaving that to his successor as Prime Minister. A number of officials at the EU — which would be down to 27 members with the UK gone — in a statement said they would like this process to begin "as soon as possible".

At the start of trading on Friday the markets reacted negatively to the result, with the FTSE 100 falling in value by £120 billion. Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, stated an extra £250 billion will be made available to help stabilise markets.

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Sources

Alex Barker. "EU’s Article 50 could become first Brexit stand-off" — Financial Times, June 24, 2016
"EU referendum: The result in maps and charts" — BBC News Online, June 24, 2016
Claire Phipps. "EU referendum morning briefing: the result" — The Guardian, June 24, 2016
"European Union Referendum Act 2015 - Section 1" — UK Government, 2015

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