Britons wonder what’s next?
Day after historic vote to leave EU, many in U.K. express shock, uncertainty at outcome
LONDON — A day after British voters defied widespread warnings of economic and political peril should they cut ties with the European Union, the country reckoned with the consequences as markets tanked across the globe, the prime minister said he would resign and the United Kingdom felt the renewed pressure of a breakup.
The cascading developments, all within hours of the result of a deeply polarizing referendum, reflected a country shocked by its own decision.
The vote to leave the EU
could mark one of the key turning points in modern British history, fundamentally reorienting the country’s place in the world.
But as of Friday, no one knew where Britain was headed, with joyous anti-EU voters celebrating “a glorious opportunity” and shattered Europhiles warning of cataclysms to come.
At least in the short term, the pessimistic view appeared to be winning out Friday as the country endured layer upon layer of self-inflicted turmoil — and a sudden question over who would lead Britain at a crucial moment.
With Britain still absorbing the dawn news that the country had voted by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent to withdraw from the EU, an emotional Prime Minister David Cameron appeared in front of 10 Downing St. on Friday and said he would step down after championing a failed campaign.
He promised to remain as a caretaker through the summer but said he wanted Britain to have a new prime minister by early October.
“I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months,” he said with his wife, Samantha Cameron, standing at his side. “But I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”
The result played out on the campaign trail in the U.S presidential election as well. Donald Trump said the British vote to leave the European Union was a triumph for his brand of bootstrap politics. Hillary Clinton warned of economic upheaval and political division from the sudden upset to the old order.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist whose persistent populist challenge to Clinton captured a powerful current of antiestablishment angst, suggested the vote confirms his worldview of an economy of haves and have-nots.
“I think it’s a great thing that happened,” Trump said in Scotland, site of two Trump-branded golf courses. “People are angry, all over the world. People, they’re angry.”
He dismissed economic concerns voiced by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen and others.
“Look, if the pound goes down, they’re going to do more business,” he said of the British at one point. “You know, when the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnberry, frankly.”
“Pathological selfcongratulation,” sniffed Clinton’s chief policy adviser and former top State Department aide Jake Sullivan. “Donald Trump actively rooted for this outcome, and he’s rooting for the economic turmoil in its wake,” Sullivan said.
The responses reflect the restive mood in American politics and pointed up the common social, political and economic currents motivating voters in both Britain and the United States.
Within hours, it became clear that whoever does the steering at 10 Downing St. will have to fight to keep the United Kingdom from falling apart. Nicola Sturgeon, the leader in pro-EU Scotland, said she would push for a new independence referendum.
A 2014 vote failed, but Sturgeon said a rerun of that contest was “highly likely” in order to protect Scotland’s place in Europe after English and Welsh voters overrode Scottish objections and opted for “out.”
“We will begin to prepare the legislation that would be required to enable a new independence referendum to take place if and when Parliament decides,” she told reporters in Edinburgh.
Just two years ago, proEU Scottish voters rejected independence and opted to remain united with England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Thursday, 62 percent of Scottish voters sided with the pro-EU “remain” camp, compared to just 47 percent in England.
Nationalists in Northern Ireland — another area that favored remaining in the EU — echoed those calls, demanding a vote on Irish reunification.
Passport control checks and physical barriers could soon be installed between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, the only portion of the U.K. that will now share a land border with an EU member state.
In Thursday’s vote, 56 percent of voters supported the “Remain” camp in Northern Ireland, where significant EU investment has meant a new chapter of prosperity for a region that has not forgotten decades of sectarian violence.
Cameron’s decision to step down set off an instant contest to replace him. Former London Mayor Boris Johnson — a leading campaigner for the anti-EU cause — was considered the odds-on favorite.
Johnson was mobbed outside his house in north London early Friday, with some cheering but far more jeering a man whom many pro-EU Londoners blame for the outcome of Thursday’s referendum. “Shame on you!” some yelled.
In his first remarks after the vote, an uncharacteristically serious and even somber Johnson told reporters he was “sad” about Cameron’s resignation. He described the prime minister, a longtime friend and rival, as “one of the most extraordinary politicians of our age.”
Cameron’s successor will not be picked by the general public but instead in an internal process by his Conservative Party.
Cameron’s pro-EU side had the backing of nearly every major world leader, including President Barack Obama. In a statement Friday, the president spoke of the deep U.S. bonds with Britain and the EU and said both would endure.