Britain’s divorce from the European Union could get messy

“Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame”, Merkel told a news conference.

“He might do this directly in so many words or he might conduct conversations predicated on the UK’s departure from the European Union, such as suggestions that informal pre-negotiations might take place before Article 50 is formally triggered”. “Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically”. Senior EU politicians, rattled by a result that few saw coming, told Britain on Saturday to hurry up and trigger the formal exit process – something the United Kingdom insists won’t happen for several months.

Juncker said Saturday the British had voted to leave and “it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try and negotiate the terms of their departure”.

“But what is done can not be undone and now we have to get on with making our new relationship with Europe work as well as possible”. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said he hoped there would be no “cat and mouse” games.

“There is a certain urgency.so that we don’t have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences, ” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at a meeting in Berlin of the EU’s six founding nations.

He said that the European Council – representing the 27 other member states – could trigger the negotiating process as soon as the prime minister discusses Brexit with other EU leaders.

Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said Britain’s ability to press its views and policy preferences with its European allies and within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, where it provided strong political backing to the United States, will be diminished. On Saturday, Britain’s representative on the EU’s executive Commission, Jonathan Hill, stepped down, saying he was disappointed by the referendum result but “what’s done can not be undone”.

On Sunday, a petition to call for a second referendum was gaining supporters, reaching 3.3 million signatories by the afternoon. A poll of economists by Reuters predicted Britain was likelier than not to fall into recession within a year.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic reports from London.

“I want to send a particular message to the nearly one million Europeans living in London, who make a huge contribution to our city – working hard, paying taxes and contributing to our civic and cultural life”.

World leaders including US President Barack Obama appeared to renege on threats made to British voters ahead of the referendum.

There was euphoria among Britain’s eurosceptic newspapers.

Cameron announced on Friday he would resign as the outcome of the vote sent global stock markets plunging, and inflicted the biggest one-day drop on sterling in history.

He promised to stay on as a caretaker until October while the Conservative Party chooses a new leader.

In France, far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen applauded the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

By Saturday, more than 2 million people had signed a petition demanding a second referendum vote to reverse the decision to exit the EU.

“Citizens of Great Britain have chose to refuse the diktat from Brussels”, it said.

The British pound fell as much as 10 percent against the United States dollar on Friday to levels last seen in 1985 on fears the decision could hit investment in the world’s fifth-largest economy, threaten London’s role as a global financial capital, and usher in months of political uncertainty.

Britain will remain an European Union member until the divorce is finalized, but its influence inside the bloc is already waning.

“What happened on Thursday is bad news, first of all for Britain”, he told France Inter radio, although he acknowledged there would be more limited “negative consequences for the European economy”. As a single economic market and supranational state, the EU was responsible for legislating and implementing economic reforms that benefited the people within the union’s domain.

Britain’s “leave” campaigners have been accused of lacking a plan for the aftermath of a victory.

Hill, 54, a lobbyist and Conservative leader in the upper house of parliament who has become a popular figure among European Union colleagues in 18 months in Brussels, said he was disappointed by the vote and would ensure a handover before leaving on July 15. “Birth of a new Britain”, the Daily Telegraph said, while the Daily Star tabloid borrowed from Donald Trump’s campaigning message with its headline “Now Let’s Make Britain Great Again”.

Whoever does take over from Mr Cameron will face a challenging first few months in power, with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon warning that a second ballot on Scottish independence was now “highly likely”.