UK’s Historic Vote: How 51.89% of the population voted to leave the European Union
51.89% of the population voted to leave the European Union, while 48.11% voted to remain. Almost 46.5 million people were registered to vote in Thursday’s referendum.
Pro-“Brexit” campaigners cheered, but the largely unexpected decision played havoc on world markets. London’s FTSE 100 index plunged by more than 8% at the open, with bank stocks getting hit particularly hard.
A map of the United Kingdom, which shows the areas that voted to remain in blue, and those which voted to leave in red.
Pro-independence party UKIP leader and Leave campaigner Nigel Farage told a group of journalists at Westminster following the Leave side’s victory that the EU is “dying.”
Calling for a ‘Brexit government,’ he added that “we’ve given ourselves the chance to rejoin the world … June 23rd needs to become a national bank holiday and we will call it Independence Day.”
The result reflects a deeply divided union.
In one of the most divisive campaigns in recent memory, polls had consistently shown voters split down the middle, with the outcome too close to call, and wavering voters likely to determine the result.
The UK has been a member of the European Union — and its precursors — since 1973.
Mixed reaction
The results have prompted mixed reaction from politicians. London Mayor Sadiq Kahn said that the decision was a “clear message” but urged calm.
European Council President Donald Tusk said the UK’s decision to leave the European Union was “historic, but not a moment for hysterical reactions.
“Today on behalf of the 27 (European) leaders, I can say that we are determined to keep our unity as the 27. For all of us, the union is the framework for our common future.”U.S. President Barack Obama “has been briefed” on the results and expects to speak to Cameron later in the day.
Markets start freaking out
The shock development will have profound implications for markets and economies around the world.
Along with the FTSE’s disastrous opening, the pound has plunged more than 12% to below $1.34, its lowest level since 1985. Japan’s Nikkei tanked 6.7%, and Hong Kong’s main index dropped 3.7%. Stock futures indicate that markets in London and New York will also tank when they open for trading. Dow futures are down more than 650 points.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that the body is “well prepared” and “won’t hesitate” to take additional measures as markets adjust.
The “UK financial system is resilient,” he added.
‘Serious consequences’
British Foreign Minister Hammond said that Britain’s voice in Europe will be greatly diminished and that the events would “change course of British history with huge consequences.”
Speaking to CNN’s Richard Quest, Italy’s Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan acknowledged the risk of a domino effect following the vote.
Indeed, Britain’s decision has emboldened anti-Europe parties across the continent.
The far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders congratulated the UK on its decision, and called for a Dutch referendum on EU membership.
“We want be in charge of our own country, our own money, our own borders, and our own immigration policy,” he was quoted as saying in a statement on his website.
“If I become prime minister, there will be a referendum in the Netherlands on leaving the European Union as well. Let the Dutch people decide.”
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s nationalist Front National party also congratulated the Brexit side. Her party has suggested that the French would also hold an “out” referendum if she assumed the presidency. France is holding presidential elections next year.
David Cameron, left, and his wife Samantha arrive to vote in the EU referendum in London, Thursday June 23, 2016. Cameron has announced his resignation as Prime Minister following the UK’s historic vote to leave the EU. He refused to give an exact time table for his departure, but said that he wanted a new leader to be in place by the start of the Tory Party conference in October.
Breakup of the union?
Turnout in Scotland was 67% with voters across the country voting overwhelmingly to stay in Europe. Now that the UK as a whole has determined to leave, many north of the border feel that this would be a catalyst for another Scottish referendum, allowing the country to secede from the UK.
The pro-independence Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland also called for an Irish unity referendum — taking Northern Ireland out of the UK — in the wake of the Brexit vote.
“Scotland has delivered a strong, unequivocal vote to remain in the EU, and I welcome that endorsement of our European status,” Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a statement. She will deliver a statement on the Brexit vote’s implications for Scotland later on Friday morning, she said in a statement.
“And while the overall result remains to be declared, the vote here makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union.”
Her predecessor, Alex Salmond, told British television that Cameron has no choice but to resign after losing the referendum.
“If this result holds, it’s the end of Britain, just simple as that… Scotland is voting overwhelmingly to stay,” historian Simon Schama told CNN before the vote.
“Bye-bye Great Britain, bye-bye United Kingdom. That will absolutely happen.”
David Cameron resigns after UK shocks the world by voting for Brexit
With the Leave campaign securing 52 per cent of the vote, Mr Cameron addressed the nation in an emotional speech outside 10 Downing Street to announce that he would be stepping down.
David Cameron has resigned as Prime Minister after Britain voted to leave the European Union.
It followed a turbulent night with Remain campaigners quietly confident until the early hours when results from Newcastle and Sunderland showed better than expected returns for the Brexit camp.
A surprise victory for a Brexit in Swansea, which was expected to vote to Remain, did little to dampen concerns despite Scotland overwhelmingly backing staying in the Union.
Other votes in Wales began to show a trend towards a surprise Leave vote, particularly in deprived communities.
Statements are expected to be made by Sinn Fein and the SNP later today calling for a breakaway from the Union. London backed Remain but the turnout was lower than expected because of bad weather.
Meanwhile on the market, the FTSE 250 index has plunged a whopping 11.7pc. The index of so-called mid-cap companies had dropped an astonishing 2,017 points to 15,309 in the first few minutes of trading.
Is Nigerian leader’s pal ‘fantastically corrupt’? Friend of African president accused of stealing £500million
Tow of a kind? Rotimi Amaechi (left), who travelled with the president to the summit, is Nigeria’s transport minister and is said to have bankrolled Buhari’s presidential campaign.
By Paul Cahalan (The Mail on Sunday)
When David Cameron was caught on camera last week before an anti-corruption summit describing Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’, the African state’s president rallied to the Prime Minister’s defence by agreeing with him. But although Muhammadu Buhari is seen by some as leading the battle against corruption, worrying allegations swirl around one of his close allies.
■ Muhammadu Buhari seen by some as leading the battle against corruption
■ But worrying allegations swirl around one of Nigerian leader’s close allies
■ Rotimi Amaechi accused of misappropriating £338m commission probing sale of state assets
■ Also accused of diverting £140m of state funds into Buhari’s presidential campaign
Rotimi Amaechi, who travelled with the president to the summit, is Nigeria’s transport minister and is said to have bankrolled Buhari’s presidential campaign. In the Nigerian press he has been dubbed ‘ATM’ – the American term for cash machine – because of his ability to produce vast sums of money at short notice.
When David Cameron was caught on camera last week before an anti-corruption summit describing Nigeria as ‘fantastically corrupt’, the African state’s president rallied to the Prime Minister’s defence by agreeing with him. But although Muhammadu Buhari is seen by some as leading the battle against corruption, worrying allegations swirl around one of his close allies.
He remains in his post despite being accused of misappropriating £338million by a commission investigating the sale of state assets. Some of that money is likely to have come from UK taxpayers, who gave the country £1billion in aid over five years to 2014, including £248million in 2014 alone. Separately, Amaechi is accused of diverting £140million of state funds into Buhari’s presidential campaign, with reports he paid for media, consultants and private jets.
David Cameron: Nigeria and Afghanistan ‘Possibly World’s Most Corrupt Countries’
British Prime Minister David Cameron (2nd R), pictured speaking to Queen Elizabeth II and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at Buckingham Palace, May 10, has put his foot in it ahead of an anti-corruption summit in London. Paul Hackett – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Things could get a bit awkward for David Cameron when Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari comes to town later this week.
The British Prime Minister is hosting a global anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday where world leaders including Buhari and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will gather to share ideas on tackling issues around corruption, including corporate secrecy and government transparency.
But in an off-guard moment, Cameron was caught on video addressing Queen Elizabeth II and Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, about the conference during a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the Queen’s 90th birthday. And Cameron spoke of Nigeria and Afghanistan in rather unflattering terms. “We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain,” says Cameron. “Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
Welby then intervened in a bid to save face for Cameron, saying: “But this particular president is not actually corrupt,” according to Reuters. It is not clear if he was referring to Buhari or Ghani.
“We’ve got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain,” says Cameron. “Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.”
The comments are not likely to go down well with Buhari, who has made tackling government corruption a main focus of his administration since his election in March 2015. Nigeria’s anti-corruption agency has recovered more than $2 trillion in stolen public funds in the past 12 years, according to the country’s justice minister, and Buhari recently petitioned the international community to speed up its assistance to Nigeria in recovering billions of dollars of the West African country’s public funds that have been secreted abroad.
President Barack Obama and first lady #Michelle Obama spent Friday in London, United Kingdom, meeting with Queen Elizabeth and dining at #Kensington Palace with the royal family. It’s Day 2 of a four-day stay in the U.K., where Obama has made his case for the U.S. and U.K. to maintain their “special relationship,” and against British withdrawal from the European Union.
Princess #Kate Middleton talks with first lady Michelle Obama in Kensington Palace, London, prior to a private dinner hosted by Prince William and Kate on April 22.President Barack Obama steps off Air Force One at Stansted Airport in London on April 21.#President Obama shakes hands with British Prime Minister #David Cameron at the conclusion of a joint news conference at 10 #Downing Street in London on April 22.President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are greeted by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle on April 22.Members of the royal family welcome the Obamas to Kensington Palace on April 22.Britain’s Prince William talks with President Obama as Kate Middleton and Michelle Obama talk while Prince Harry looks on at Kensington Palace in London on April 22.President Barack Obama, Prince William and First Lady Michelle Obama play with Prince George at Kensington Palace in London on April 22.Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama walk from Downing Street to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on April 22.Royal Guardsman look out from the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle on April 22.The president’s convoy sits outside Windsor Castle on April 22.
Panama Papers: David Cameron discloses tax records as £200,000 gift from mother comes under scrutiny
Demonstrators hold placards during a protest outside Downing Street in Whitehall, central London, Britain April 9, 2016. British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Saturday said he should have handled scrutiny of his family’s tax arrangements better and promised to learn the lessons after days of negative media coverage and calls for his resignation. Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters
Prime Minister David Cameron has released his tax records in the aftermath of the Panama Papers revelations, but questions are being raised over a £200,000 ($282,500) gift he received from his mother. According to the figures disclosed by the prime minister, he paid more than £76,000 in tax on his income, which exceeded £200,000 in 2014-15. While he earned close to £47,000 from rental income on the Camerons’ family home in London, he also received taxable expenses of £9,834 from the Tory party, and interest from his savings amounted to £3,052.
Cameron’s mother transferred two separate payments of £100,000 as gifts shortly after the death of his father, Ian Cameron, in 2011. This has allowed the family estate to potentially avoid paying up to £80,000 in inheritance tax, given Cameron’s mother lives for another two years – seven years from the date of inheritance. Cameron also inherited £300,000 from his father in 2010.
The Conservative leader said he wants to be “completely open and transparent” by publishing his personal tax records.
Downing Street published the personal financial details of the prime minister to end questions regarding Cameron’s financial affairs. Questions have been raised whether the prime minister had benefited from the Blairmore Holdings, an offshore fund operated by his late father.
The details about Ian’s dealings emerged in the explosive Panama Papers. The leak of confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, has put several world leaders in a tight spot.
The prime minister’s four-page document was compiled by RNS Chartered Accountants covering six years. Although the Panama Papers show no direct wrongdoing by Cameron, questions regarding his financial affairs have been raised. He has issued four statements in the last week clarifying how his father’s name surfacing in the leaked documents.
Mossack Fonseca director Ramon Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. He said the firm had suffered a hack on its database and described the leak as “an international campaign against privacy”, according to Reuters.
All of those implicated in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICJI) Panama Papers report have been afforded the opportunity to respond. Visit the ICJI’s website to read the responses.
