British PM resigns after United Kingdom vote to leave EU — BREXIT

David Cameron confirmed he would stand down as prime minister after suffering a devastating defeat in which 51.9 per cent of Britons voted to end the country’s 43-year membership of the EU. Until it formally withdraws, Britain will remain a member, with all the rights and obligations that go along with membership.

Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Conservative Party leaders of the official “leave” campaign, paid tribute to Cameron after his resignation. “This will not be business as usual”, Didier Reynders said. “Britain will remain a close partner, with which we are linked economically”.

The reaction follows a script predicted by many experts on Russian Federation, who said that a weakened Europe would be good for the Kremlin.

The British referendum to leave the European Union has led to global economic instability and uncertainties, which investors don’t want to see at a time when the world economy is literally struggling to grow.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned of the dangers of delay.

Several research studies argue that the United Kingdom – one of the few bright spots in a fragile worldwide economy – could suffer financially by leaving the EU. They do not see a legal way to force Britain to start the process but have piled political pressure on Cameron to honour his pledge to launch Article 50 negotiations and respect the popular vote.

Britain had joined the European Union on January 1 in 1973.

This would address the main reason for the vote to leave, and make it perfectly legitimate for the United Kingdom government to offer a second referendum, rather than rush to start the exit process.

The petition passed the 200,000 mark on Friday evening, with a map of the voting indicating that most activity was in London – where most boroughs backed the “remain” camp in the referendum.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic reports from London.

“The option of a second referendum must be on the table and it is on the table”, she said, declaring it was “democratically unacceptable” for Scotland to be dragged out of the European Union against its will.

Others were looking on the bright side. “So what the hell happens now?” asked the Daily Mirror. But that view isn’t shared by Europe’s far-right nationalists.

“Citizens of Great Britain have made a decision to refuse the diktat from Brussels”.

In the most hard speech of his political career, he said he could no longer do the job when his vision for the country was so at odds with that of the people. As economists had estimated in anticipation of a potential leave vote, last night’s outcome led to a 10 percent drop in the value of the British pound – and a decline in the value of the Euro – compared to the USA dollar to its lowest level in more than three decades. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is considering downgrading the country because of the uncertainty related to the vote.

An overwhelming 60 per cent of Londoners had voted to remain in the European Union, in stark contrast to other English cities like Birmingham and Coventry. “We can not turn our backs on Europe, we are part of Europe”.

There was euphoria over the vote in much of the British press.

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer said that he was “very disappointed” with Britain’s move. “If I had the opportunity to vote again, it would be to stay”. “The UK is an indispensable ally of the United States, and that special relationship is unaffected by this vote”.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was meeting with her Cabinet in Edinburgh Saturday to discuss the implications of the referendum.