(MEE) Britain will be thrown into chaos this morning after voters have decided, after a bitter campaign, that the UK should leave the EU.
After six years as the UK’s leader, David Cameron said on Friday morning that he will stand down by the Conservative party conference this October.
“I fought this campaign in the only way I know how which is to say directly and passionately what I think and feel – head, heart and soul,” Cameron said, standing with his wife, Samantha, outside Number 10.
“I held nothing back. I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain was better and safer inside the EU.”
Cameron, who choked with emotion as he concluded his statement, said he will leave the next prime minister to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which represents formal notification of the UK’s decision to leave.
Fifty-two percent of voters in the once-in-a-generation referendum have struck a thunderous blow against the bloc, sending world markets into a tailspin as the sterling plunged to a 31-year low.
Against the trend of the rest of England which saw the “Leave” campaign garner major support in the northeast and midlands, London voted almost 60 percent to remain. The majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland also voted to stay in the bloc.
Investors scrambled to sell the pound, oil and stocks as Britain took a lurch into the unknown, becoming the first country to quit in the EU’s 60-year history, a culmination of decades of suspicion over European aims of creating an ever-closer political union.
“Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day,” said top anti-EU campaigner Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, who had promised the British people the chance to retake power from Brussels and rein in high immigration.
“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.
A joyous crowd chanted back to him: “Out! Out! Out!”
Going it alone
The result means the world’s fifth-largest economy must now go it alone in the global economy, launching lengthy exit negotiations with the EU and brokering new deals with all the countries it now trades with under the bloc’s umbrella.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned the EU will “not be bending over backwards” to help Britain in those negotiations.
Analysts say it could take the island nation a decade to secure new trade accords worldwide.
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.
Thousands of jobs in the City could be transferred to Frankfurt or Paris, top companies have warned. The Brexit camp argued that the business world will adapt quickly, however, with Britain’s flexible and dynamic economy buoyed by new economic partners and selective immigration.
The campaign has left Britain riven in two, marked by the brutal murder of pro-“Remain” British lawmaker Jo Cox, a mother of two who was stabbed, shot and left bleeding to death on the pavement a week ahead of the vote.
British unity threatened
The vote threatens the unity of the United Kingdom, too.
Two years after Scotland voted in a referendum to remain in the United Kingdom, its political leader First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said a new independence vote is “definitely on the table” after Britain voted against the majority will expressed by Scots.
“Scotland sees its future as part of the EU,” Sturgeon told Sky News after the vote.
Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, is now faced with the prospect of customs barriers for trade with EU-member the Republic of Ireland. Irish republicans Sinn Fein called for a vote on Irish unity following the referendum.
Leaders of Europe, born out of a determination to forge lasting peace from the carnage of two world wars, will open a two-day summit on Tuesday to grapple with the British decision.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned this month that a British departure would be a shock requiring quick action to avert the “disintegration” of the bloc.
“Small countries that are economically at least as affluent as the UK are the main ones at risk, especially Denmark and potentially also Sweden,” said Carsten Nickels of the Teneo analyst group in Brussels.
Immigration and an erosion of economic security have become rallying cries for populist challenges that remain scattered across Europe, just as they have for Donald Trump’s campaign in the US presidential election.
The bloc will have to learn lessons not only from events in Britain, but from the rest of Europe, Juncker said ahead of the referendum, warning against a rapid push for more integration.
“This euroscepticism is not only present in Britain,” he said.
This article (David Cameron Resigns After UK Votes to Split from EU) by MEE staff originally appeared on MiddleEastEye.net and was used with permission. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.