New | It’s Brexit: Hang Seng Index plummets as Britain votes to leave EU in stunning referendum result
The verdict, which triggered a freefall of the British pound and turmoil on world markets, is a shocking turnaround after most polls had suggested Britons wanted to stay in the EU
Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign, toppling the prime minister, sending global markets plunging and shattering the stability of a project in continental unity designed half a century ago to prevent another world war.
The decision launches a years-long process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between Great Britain and what would become a 27-nation bloc, an unprecedented divorce that could take a decade or more to complete.
“The dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party. “Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day.”
Prime Minister David Cameron, who had led the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, said he would resign by October and left it to his successor to decide when to invoke Article 50, which triggers a departure from the EU.
“I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months,” he said, “but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers the country to its next destination.”
Polls ahead of the vote had shown a close race, and the momentum had increasingly appeared to be on the “remain” side over the last week. But in an election on Thursday marked by notably high turnout – 72 per cent of the more than 46 million registered voters – “leave” won with 52 per cent of the votes.
The result shocked investors, and stock markets plummeted around the world, with key indexes dropping 10 per cent in Germany and about 8 per cent in Japan and Britain. The Hang Seng Index fell by about 1,000 points at one point after the result.