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Reuters

Britain finally cast off from the European Union on Friday for an uncertain Brexit future, turning its back after 47 years on the post-World War II project that sought to build the ruined nations of Europe into a global power.
In its biggest geopolitical shift since losing its global empire, the UK slipped away at 2300 GMT in a step cast by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the dawn of new era.
Thousands of Brexit supporters gathered outside the British parliament, waving flags, singing and revelling in a mix of nostalgia, patriotism and defiance.
“This is a fantastic day,” said Tony Williams, 53, from southeast London. “We are free, from 11 o’clock, we have done it … We have done it.”


Brexit, once considered the unlikely dream of a motley crew of “Eurosceptics” on the fringes of British politics, also weakens the EU, conceived as a way to bind together Europe’s major powers in peace after centuries of conflict.
When the exit day finally came, after 3½ years of wrangling since the 2016 referendum, it was an anticlimax of sorts: while Brexiteers waving flags toasted freedom in the rain, many Britons showed indifference or relief.
“For many people, this is an astonishing moment of hope, a moment they thought would never come,” Johnson, the New York-born leader of the official “Leave” campaign, said in a pre-recorded address to the nation.
“Our job as the government – my job – is to bring this country together now and take us forward,” said Johnson.
He celebrated in Downing Street with English sparkling wine and a distinctly British array of canapés including Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings with beef and horseradish.
Here is the UK’s new Brexit coin – with the correct date
The EU’s most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, cast Brexit as a sad moment that was a turning point for Europe. The EU warned that leaving would be worse than staying.
US President Donald Trump has long supported Brexit. His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Britons wanted to escape the “tyranny of Brussels”.
In Brussels, the British flag was lowered at EU headquarters. Little will change immediately, however, as a transition period keeps the United Kingdom as a member in all but name until the end of 2020.
Brexit supporters young and old packed into Parliament Square to hear Brexit’s other talisman, campaigner Nigel Farage.

“We are getting our independence back,” Mark Leeds, a 39-year-old butcher, told Reuters beside parliament.
Cast either as an epic opportunity or a grave mistake, Brexit has turned long-held views of Britain upside down just as the world grapples with the rise of China and the West’s deepest divisions since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
It also diminishes the EU. At the stroke of midnight in Brussels, the bloc lost 15 per cent of its economy, its biggest military spender and the world’s international financial capital, London.
Leaving was once a far-fetched idea: the UK joined in 1973 as “the sick man of Europe” and less than two decades ago British leaders were arguing about whether to join the euro.
What will UK be like February 1, the day after Brexit?
But the turmoil of the euro zone crisis, fears about mass immigration and miscalculations by former prime minister David Cameron led to the 52 per cent to 48 per cent vote to leave in 2016.
For proponents, Brexit is “independence day” – an escape from what they cast as a German-dominated project with a doomed single currency that is failing its 500 million people.
They hope departure will herald reforms to reshape Britain and propel it ahead of its European rivals.
Opponents say Brexit is a folly that will weaken the West, torpedo what is left of Britain’s global clout, undermine its economy and ultimately leave it a less cosmopolitan set of islands.

David Tucker, 75, said he had come to London from Wales to march in the hope that others would keep alive the prospect of one day rejoining the EU.
“It is a tragedy,” he said. “We were once part of the world’s most powerful economic bloc. Now we are just an inward-looking island that is going to get smaller.”
Johnson has promised to strike a broad free trade agreement with the EU, the world’s biggest trading bloc, though Merkel and Macron have warned that leaving will be harder than staying.
UK looks to fast-growing Africa for trade ties after Brexit
But Brexit was always about much more than Europe. The referendum exposed deep internal divisions and triggered soul-searching about everything from immigration to empire and modern Britishness.
It has tested the very fabric of what now looks a disunited kingdom: England and Wales voted to leave but Scotland and Northern Ireland wanted to stay. The strains could hasten another referendum on Scottish independence and even a push for a united Ireland.
“We’ve had enough of the European Union, we don’t want it,” said Adrian Langshaw, 42. “We want to be a sovereign nation and live as a British nation, make our decisions, make our rules and live how we want.”


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Brexit

Brexit at last: Britain leaves EU for an uncertain future

Brexit supporters take part in a celebration rally at the Parliament Square in London as Britain officially leaves the EU on Friday. Photo: PA via dpa

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage speaks as people celebrate in Parliament Square on Brexit day in London, Britain January 31, 2020. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Brexit supporters wave Union flags ans a mask of Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the time reaches 11 O'Clock, in Parliament Square, venue for the Leave Means Leave Brexit Celebration in central London on January 31, 2020, the moment that the UK formally leaft the European Union. - Brexit supporters gathered outside parliament on Friday to cheer Britain's departure from the European Union following three years of epic political drama -- but for others there were only tears. After 47 years in the European fold, the country leaves the EU at 11:00pm (2300 GMT) on Friday, with a handful of the most enthusiastic supporters gathering opposite the Houses of Parliament 12 hours before the final countdown. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP)

Brexit is finally happening, but what does that mean? And what happens next?

A Brexit-inspired mural by anonymous British street artist Banksy depicting the European flag in Dover, UK. Photo: EPA

epa08178440 (FILE) - Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage (C) leaves a 'Leave.EU Referendum Party' in London, Britain, 23 June 2016. (reissued 30 January 2020) After a process that lasted over 3 years, Britain's withdrawal from the EU is set for midnight CET on 31 January 2020. EPA-EFE/Hannah McKay ATTENTION: This Image is part of a PHOTO SET *** Local Caption *** 53088039

Click to enlarge

epa08178759 Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (R) receives US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) at Downing Street in London, Britain, 30 January 2020. Pompeo is on an official visit to London. EPA-EFE/NEIL HALL

Coins are checked from storage bins after pressing at the Royal Mint in Llantrisant, Pontyclun, Wales, during production of the new 50p Brexit coin, which bears the inscription 'Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations' and the date the UK leaves the EU. Tuesday Jan. 28, 2020. Although Britain formally leaves the European Union on Jan. 31, little will change until the end of the year. Britain will still adhere to the four freedoms of the tariff-free single market – free movement of goods, services, capital and people. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)

‘Mr Brexit’ Nigel Farage relinquishes role as Europe’s ‘pantomime villain’

Nigel Farage: ‘I’ll miss being the pantomime villain’. Photo: AP

15 January 2020, France, Strasbourg: Brexit party leader Nigel Farage (centre row, 2nd L) attends a plenary session of the European Parliament, amongst other British members, before losing their mandates on 31 January 2020 when Brexit comes into force. Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa

British European Parliament member Nigel Farage wears socks with the Union flag as he speaks to a journalist during an interview at the European Parliament in Brussels, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. With the Brexit moment set for Friday at midnight Brussels time, UK parliamentarians are packing boxes and removing personal items from their Brussels offices. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A woman takes a photo of an anti-Brexit sticker which reads, 'Bollocks to Brexit, it's not a done deal', placed on the mailbox of British politician Nigel Farage at the European Parliament in Brussels, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Nigel Farage: ‘I’ll miss being the pantomime villain’. Photo: DPA

Failure of post-Brexit talks would pose ‘existential threat’ to Ireland

Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar speaks to the media at Government Buildings in Dublin on January 14. Photo: PA via AP

Sinn Fein activists protest at the Parliament Buildings on the Stormont Estate in Belfast on January 31, 2020 against Brexit and call for a border poll on Irish Unity. - Britain on January 31 ends almost half a century of integration with its closest neighbours and leaves the European Union, starting a new -- but still uncertain -- chapter in its long history. (Photo by Paul Faith / AFP)

TOPSHOT - Pro-EU anti-Brexit protesters hold up a banner and hold smoke flares during a demonstration on Westminster Bridge in London on January 31, 2020 on the day that the UK formally leaves the European Union. - Britain on January 31 ends almost half a century of integration with its closest neighbours and leaves the European Union, starting a new -- but still uncertain -- chapter in its long history. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP)

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PM Boris Johnson celebrates at Downing Street with Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings
Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron cast Brexit as sad moment and turning point for Europe



PM Boris Johnson celebrates at Downing Street, while Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron cast Brexit as sad moment and turning point for Europe.


Brexit at last: Britain leaves EU for an uncertain future

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} PM Boris Johnson celebrates at Downing Street with Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron cast Brexit as sad moment and turning point for Europe

PM Boris Johnson celebrates at Downing Street with Shropshire blue cheese and Yorkshire puddings

Germany’s Merkel and France’s Macron cast Brexit as sad moment and turning point for Europe