Brexit, stage left.

June 23, 2016 10:13 PM

The BBC has called the "Brexit" referendum in favor of Leave, 52% to 48%. This handy results map shows Scotland and Ireland as solidly in the Remain camp, along with London, whilst Wales and many other areas have voted to Leave. David Cameron, PM, is now under pressure to resign. So, what happens next? Some figure that since the vote is legally nonbinding, the government could discard the results. Earlier, Cameron said that he would invoke Article 50, the EU exit provision, in a "speedy" manner; however, there are many things could happen before then.

Other perspectives and opinion columns from: The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Telegraph, The Guardian, a French politician (March 2016), a German academic (May 2016).
posted by redct (14 comments total)

From the BBC link: Nigel Farage of UKIP says, "If the predictions are right, this will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, and a victory for decent people." Not like all those... other people, I guess?
posted by psoas at 10:15 PM on June 23, 2016

United Kingdom
posted by Fizz at 10:15 PM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

.
posted by sektah at 10:16 PM on June 23, 2016

The wars of the 21st century are said to be economic - now we witness the world devouring the empire. Brown trouser day, indeed.
posted by onesidys at 10:18 PM on June 23, 2016

Yeah, I'm clearly neither real nor decent. Actually, as a trans foreigner, that is almost certainly exactly how Farage thinks of me.
posted by Dysk at 10:19 PM on June 23, 2016

.
posted by fitnr at 10:20 PM on June 23, 2016

.
posted by suelac at 10:21 PM on June 23, 2016

Was not expecting that.

Also Ireland is not part of the UK. Northern Ireland is.
posted by fshgrl at 10:21 PM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is why I've been trying to tell Americans not to be complacent about Trump. A lot of people were sure this would be remain. The betting markets and the financial markets were all going 'Remain'. As were the polls. It's not over until it's over.

And the UK is certainly over.
posted by knapah at 10:22 PM on June 23, 2016 [5 favorites]

From the Guardian:

Rightly or not, it seems tens of millions of people, many in places where once was heavy industry, concluded that the gamble was worth taking; that the present was not so rosy as to militate against a punt on something, anything different.

It's jobs... not racism, that had people voting to Exit.
posted by MikeWarot at 10:23 PM on June 23, 2016 [1 favorite]

Scotland will seek independence now. Cameron's legacy will be breaking up two unions. Neither needed to happen. -JK Rowling
posted by JiffyQ at 10:23 PM on June 23, 2016 [4 favorites]

Fuck. This is so bad.
posted by skybluepink at 10:25 PM on June 23, 2016

Living in Canada, I had always assumed that the UK was at least as diverse as this country. Having thought that, I figured, like with American elections, "There's no way you can win on such blatantly racist and xenophobic rhetoric. Not enough PoC and foreign born European citizens would vote for it." Then I looked up UK demographics and these results started to make a lot more sense.
posted by constantinescharity at 10:26 PM on June 23, 2016

Thanks for the new thread. Here's the (most recent) old thread for people interested in reading the earlier discussion.
posted by triggerfinger at 10:28 PM on June 23, 2016