UK faces uncertain future
So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu.
With little fanfare, Britain left the European Union yesterday after 47 years of membership, taking a leap into the unknown in a historic blow to the bloc.
As the United Kingdom’s departure became official at 11pm local time, thousands of enthusiastic Brexit supporters gathered outside parliament in London to welcome the moment they had longed for since Britain’s 52 to 48 per cent vote in June 2016 to walk away from the club it had joined in 1973.
The flag-waving crowd erupted in cheers as Big Ben bonged 11 times – on a recording. Parliament’s real bell has been silenced for repairs.
In a message from nearby 10 Downing St, Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Britain’s departure ‘‘a moment of real national renewal and change’’.
But many Britons mourned the loss of their EU identity, and some marked the passing with tearful vigils. There was also sadness in Brussels as British flags were quietly removed from the bloc’s many buildings.
Whether Brexit makes Britain a proud nation that has reclaimed its sovereignty, or a diminished presence in Europe and the world, will be debated for years to come.
While Britain’s exit is a historic moment, it only marks the end of the first stage of the Brexit saga.
The UK and the EU have given themselves an 11-month ‘‘transition period’’, during which Britain will continue to follow the bloc’s rules, to strike new agreements on trade, security and a host of other areas.
The now 27-member EU will have to bounce back from one of its biggest setbacks in its 62-year history to confront an ever more complicated world as its former member becomes a competitor, just across the English Channel.
French President Emmanuel Macron called Brexit a ‘‘historic alarm signal’’ that should force the EU to improve itself.
He insisted that European citizens need a united Europe ‘‘more than ever’’, to defend their interests in the face of China and the United States, and to cope with climate change, migration and technological upheaval.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that Brexit would mark a major loss for the UK, and said the island nation was heading for a lonelier existence.
Johnson won an election victory in December with a dual promise to ‘‘get Brexit done’’ and deliver improved jobs, infrastructure and services for Britain’s most deprived areas, where support for leaving the EU is strongest. Yesterday he symbolically held a Cabinet meeting in the pro-Brexit town of Sunderland in northeast England, rather than in London.
Johnson is a Brexit enthusiast, but he knows many Britons aren’t, and his Conservative government sought to mark the moment with quiet dignity. Red, white and blue lights illuminated government buildings and a countdown clock projected on to the prime minister’s Downing Street residence.
There was no such restraint in nearby Parliament Square, where arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage gathered a crowd of several thousand, who belted out the patriotic song Land of Hope and Glory.
‘‘The war is over,’’ said Farage, who often describes Britain’s relationship with Europe in martial terms. ‘‘We have won.’’
But Britons who cherished their membership in the bloc – and the freedom it bought to live anywhere across 28 countries – were mourning.
‘‘Many of us want to just mark our sadness in public,’’ said Ann Jones, who joined dozens of other remainers on a march to the EU’s mission in London.
By and large, Britain’s big cities voted to stay in the EU, while small towns voted to leave. England and Wales backed Brexit, while Northern Ireland and Scotland voted to remain.
Candlelit vigils were held in several Scottish cities, government buildings in Edinburgh were lit up in the EU’s blue and yellow colours, and the bloc’s flag continued to fly outside the Scottish Parliament.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Brexit was ‘‘a moment of profound sadness’’. Her government is demanding the right to hold a second referendum on independence from the UK, something Johnson refuses to grant.
In London, which is home to more than 1 million EU citizens, Mayor Sadiq Khan said he was ‘‘heartbroken’’ about Brexit. But he insisted that London would remain a city that welcomed all, regardless of ‘‘the colour of your skin, the colour of your flag, the colour of your passport’’.