May’s status, however, as a prominent “remain” campaigner may damage her chances – with experts suggesting that a politician who campaigned against a Brexit would be unlikely to win support in the party to lead negotiations with Europe on Britain’s European Union departure. Other contenders include Justice Minister Michael Gove, a leading Brexit campaigner, and the Home Secretary Theresa May.
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The polls have closed and the vote-counting has started in a once-in-a-generation referendum on whether the United Kingdom should leave the European Union.
Cameron said he wants a new prime minister in place by the time of the Conservative party conference in October.
The U.K.is the first major country to decide to leave the bloc, which evolved from the ashes of the war as the region’s leaders sought to build links and avert future hostility.
Although he attempted to reassure the financial markets that the British economy remained “fundamentally strong”, as the Prime Minister was speaking, the economic cost of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union became clear.
Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in British politics at the University of Leeds, said Cameron had seen European Union battles poison the leaderships of former Tory leaders John Major and William Hague and “feared a civil war in the Conservative Party”.
“The country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction”, he added.
“If the predictions now are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people”, he told supporters in Westminster. Analysts say it could take the island nation a decade to secure new trade accords worldwide. Speaking to reporters outside his Downing Street office, he said it wouldn’t be right for him “to try to be the captain that steers the country to its next destination”.
Nigel Farage has appeared to declare victory in the European Union referendum and said a vote to Leave had been won “without a single bullet being fired”.
Instead, the “Leave” side – which railed against European regulations and increased migration in a heated campaign battle – was celebrating their triumph. “Exit negotiations should be concluded within 2 years at max”.
In a worst-case scenario, the International Monetary Fund has warned that the British economy could sink into recession next year and overall economic output would be 5.6 percent lower than otherwise forecast by 2019, with unemployment rising back above six percent.
Scotland voted Remain. So it’s not out of the question that we might be looking at a second Scottish Independence referendum in the next few years. Leaders of the “leave” camp are celebrating, referring to the vote as marking a new “independence day”. The London stock exchange will probably open late this morning; the City was not expecting such an outcome.
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Mr Cameron took charge of the Conservatives following a leadership contest in 2005, taking the party into a coalition with the Lib Dems after the 2010 general election.
