The historic vote, fought on the battlefronts of the economy and immigration, toppled Prime Minister David Cameron, pounded sterling and led Moody’s to downgrade Britain’s credit rating outlook to “negative”. “It has to be done in an unequivocal manner with the explicit intent to trigger Article 50”.
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Mr Cameron has said the Brexit vote was the “will of the British people” which was an “instruction which must be delivered”. That person could be his Conservative Party rival Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who became the most recognisable face of the Leave camp and who is now favourite to succeed him.
The financial market volatility comes at a time when interest rates around the world are already at or near zero.
The benchmark Nikkei index in Japan dropped almost 8 percent, making it the biggest stock market loser in Asia. The Bank of England – the U.K.’s central bank – said it was monitoring developments closely and “has undertaken extensive contingency planning”.
One of the fundamental principles of the bloc is allowing the free movement of people and workers.
Emergency meetings were called around Europe Friday to deal with the fallout from the vote.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the result a “blow” to Europe while French President Francois Hollande said it was a “grave test”.
MEPs have also called for an extraordinary session of the European Parliament to be held in Brussels on Monday in the case of a Brexit vote.
At Billingsgate market, Allen Laurence, said the result was “absolutely wonderful”.
Trump, who backed the “leave” campaign, said Friday that, “I was actually very surprised that President Obama would’ve come over here and he would’ve been so bold as to tell the people over here what to do”. “We are determined to keep our unity at 27”, one less than when the U.K.is included.
Once the United Kingdom formally notifies the European Union that it wants to get out of the bloc, it will have two years to officially negotiate its departure.
Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which guides member states wishing to leave the European Union, is a vague map towards the exit door.
Their decision will stoke fears of a domino-effect of exit votes in eurosceptic member states that could imperil the integrity of the bloc. In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, leader of the anti-EU Dutch Party for Freedom, wants a “Nexit” vote.
He promised to stay on as a caretaker until October while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader.
The 11th hour decision of Johnson, Cameron’s schoolmate from the same elite Eton private boarding school, to come down on the side of Leave gave the exit campaign a credible voice.
Citing reports suggesting the “remain” vote was largely championed by a younger demographic, she lamented the fact that a potentially life-altering decision was made by those who may not be around to watch the scenario play out in full.
Crude oil prices and USA futures also took a big hit, and the British pound plummeted more than 10 percent in six hours while the yen surged about 3 percent to the US dollar as investors seeking safety snapped up the Japanese currency.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said her semi-autonomous administration would seek immediate talks with European Union nations and institutions to ensure that Scotland could remain in the bloc despite the U.K.-wide vote to leave.
The only way around this was for Britain to follow Norway, which lies outside the European Union but has joined the single market.
Aleisha McLean, 28, said she woke up Friday morning considering an option she had never previously entertained – moving back to Canada. “But there’s people here in Brussels that are talking about an accelerated leave process”, he says. But political pressure and economic instability may force British politicians to act more quickly than they had hoped.
Peace in Northern Ireland has been supported in part by an open border between the Republic Ireland and Northern Ireland (part of the U.K.). that stems from European Union membership.
Ban said he is counting on both sides to maintain their partnerships with the United Nations on development and humanitarian issues.
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“Inward investment by China into the United Kingdom under the dialogue has been focused on infrastructure projects and I wouldn’t expect that should change with Brexit, but on financial services projects with China, that’s at significant risk now”, said Andrew Naylor, a Singapore-based executive director at Cicero Group, a consultancy that has been helping Asian financial firms weigh the Brexit risks.
