The absolutely stunning decision by the people of Britain to leave the European Union means that Britain has opted to forgo the status quo and instead leap into the unknown. Though opinion polls suggested that the “Remain” and “Leave” campaigns were neck and neck following a bad-tempered campaign, it was predicted that Britain, a habitually pragmatic country, would in the end vote to keep things the way they were. How wrong the predictions were. Leave won by 52 percent to 48 percent on Thursday, which is now being called Britain’s Independence Day. The undecided voter, that fence-sitter, probably tilted the outcome in favor of Leave.
The whole world will now be watching for the fallout from Britain’s divorce from the EU. The first casualty is Prime Minister David Cameron who said he will step down by October in wake of the UK vote. Ironically, it was Cameron who promised the British in 2013 to see off the electoral threat from the Independence Party, which changed from a blip to a major force in British politics. Cameron felt reasonably certain Britain would vote to stay in and he was the biggest voice for Remain. But that was before the tidal wave of immigration began, before the onslaught of terrorism in nearby France, and the refugee crisis overwhelming Europe’s southern and eastern borders. The Leave campaign brought the emotive issue of immigration front and center and was able to exploit it very effectively.
Global stock markets fell heavily on the news and the value of the pound also fell dramatically and at one point touched its lowest level against the dollar since 1985. The Leave people say this was to be expected and that the pound will right itself in due course.
The consequences of the Leave vote cannot be minimized. It will have far-reaching effects and not just in the United Kingdom. There is now no telling how many other countries are going to follow the UK’s lead. It appears that there will now be a domino effect from the so-called Brexit that could threaten the entire EU. Already, the UK vote has sparked demands from far-right parties for referendums in other member states.
France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the French must now also have the right to choose. Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders said the Netherlands deserved a “Nexit” vote while Italy’s Northern League said: “Now it’s our turn”.
Former Labor Europe Minister Keith Vaz said the British people had voted with their “emotions” and rejected the advice of experts who had warned about the economic impact of leaving the EU. There is a certain truth to that. The British are largely ignorant of what the EU does and why, but in all fairness, the complexity of the issue was off-putting. Leaving such a historic vote to a prime minister or a parliament would not have sufficed; the people had to vote. But with so much bombardment of messages and information for and against, it was difficult, if not impossible, to have an intelligent and informed public debate about the merits of staying in the EU or leaving. People were in the end being asked to choose based on gut instincts, not the most scientific method when deciding the fate of a nation, a continent and a world for generations to come.
The vote to leave, which brings an end to more than four decades of UK membership in the EU, will almost certainly have serious consequences for everything from financial markets to European policy decisions to the stability of the bloc.
The EU is the world’s most powerful union. Britain is the first country to leave it, arguably the biggest blow to the 28-nation EU since its formation.
