Britain votes to leave EU, PM to resign (UPDATED FRI)

Hold on to your hats. British voters have opted to leave the European Union, PM David Cameron is resigning and there is likely to be a turbulent day ahead in world financial markets as governments and investors digest the news.

Please join us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/bangkokpostlearning

Afternoon update

British PM David Cameron to resign

AFP – Prime Minister David Cameron announced Friday he will resign after Britons voted to leave the European Union despite his campaign to keep it in the bloc.

Cameron promised to try to "steady the ship" over the next months and did not give a precise timetable for his departure but said a new leader should be installed by early October.

"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 British leader said outside his Downing Street residence in London.

He said his successor should trigger the formal process for Britain to leave the European Union.

Flanked by his wife Samantha, Cameron said he had fought to retain Britain's membership of the EU "head, heart and soul – I held nothing back".

But he added: "The British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path and as such, I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction."

European stocks in free fall after Brexit vote

AFP – European stock markets and the British pound plunged at the start of trading Friday after Britain voted to leave the European Union, with banking stocks leading the way down.

London's FTSE-100 index was down 5.0 percent around 0745 GMT off earlier lows with banking stocks Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds all losing close to a quarter of their market value.

In the eurozone, the damage was even greater, with the Paris CAC-40 index falling by over 10 percent. Financials BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole plunged by 17 percent, while Societe Generale dropped 21 percent.

The Frankfurt DAX index also dropped by over 10 percent at one point, before recovering somewhat to a 8.7-percent decline. Banking stocks Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank both plummeted by over 16 percent.

Among smaller European exchanges, Madrid fell nearly 12 percent, Athens by 15 percent, Amsterdam nearly 9 percent, Prague 10 percent and Warsaw by nearly 8 percent.

Sterling crashed 10 percent to $1.3229 at one point, its weakest level since 1985

The situation at midday

The vote count is almost complete and the "leave" vote leads the "remain vote by over 1.2 million, so Britain will definitely be leaving the European Union. This is a long process, however, probably more than two years. Here are just a few excerpts from the stories that are starting to come in, all from AFP. This is a historic day and I'll have more later.

Britain votes to break with EU

Britain has voted to break out of the European Union, national media declared Friday, striking a thunderous blow against the bloc and spreading alarm through markets as sterling plummeted to a 31-year low against the dollar.

Lured by the promise of regaining control of their own destiny and reining in high levels of immigration, Britons chose to break from a 28-nation alliance that has offered unfettered trade access and the free movement of labour across its borders.

The result means the world's fifth largest economy must now go it alone in the global economy, striking a new trade relationship with the bloc it is abandoning and brokering new deals with all the countries it now trades with under the EU's umbrella.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has said the EU will "not be bending over backwards" to help Britain in those negotiations. Analysts say it could take the island nation a decade to secure new trade accords worldwide.

Scotland 'sees its future as part of the EU': leader

Scotland sees its future as "part of the EU", First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday following a forecast Brexit victory in the EU referendum, which she had earlier indicated could precipitate Scottish independence.

"Scotland sees its future as part of the EU," Sturgeon was quoted by Sky News as saying, telling the BBC: "Scotland clearly and decisively voted to remain part of the European Union, 62 to 38 (per cent)".

Unity for Ireland?

Northern Ireland should be allowed to vote on uniting with the Republic of Ireland after the British-ruled province voted to remain in the bloc, the Sinn Fein party said on Friday.

"We have a situation where the north is going to be dragged out on the tails of a vote in England... Sinn Fein will now press our demand, our long-standing demand, for a border poll," Sinn Fein's national chairman Declan Kearney said after media projections said the UK as a whole had vote to leave the EU.

Friday morning update

The latest from our online reporters: Thai stocks opened down 1.87% at the start of trade this morning.

"LEAVE" takes an early lead

With about 600,000 votes counted by 7:15am our time, the vote for leaving the EU was about 18,000 votes higher than the vote for remaining. Twenty minutes later that margin was 15,000 with about 800,000 votes counted. From the turnout, it looks like it will take 16.4 million votes for either side to win.

7:50: Results are coming in more quickly now and "leave" is still in the lead by two to three percentage points. The BBC is pointing out that many areas expected to be on the "leave" side have voted much more heavily against remaining in the EU than expected.

8:00:  Leave 53%, Remain 47%. "Leave" is the first to pass one million. Analysts say the London results will be especially important. London is expected to vote "remain", but the margin may have to be very high to overcome the strong "leave' vote elsewhere.

8:20  The first analyst predictions based on actual votes are now coming in and they all point to a victory for "leave".

"Remain" scores in London

8:30  All of a sudden "remain" jumps into a slight lead as the London results start to come in. The vote there, thus far, has been about 3 - 1 in favour of staying in the EU.

9:00  The "remain" lead has lasted 30 minutes. It is now down to about 6,000 votes, 50.04 percent to 49.96 with more than 6.5 million votes counted.

9:18  It looks like the strong London vote for "remain" is not enough. "Leave" is back in the lead by about 120,000 votes with 10.6 million votes counted.

9:40  It is London, Scotland and, to a lesser extent, Northern Ireland voting to remain in the European against the rest of the United Kingdom which is voting heavily against. At the moment, 9:35am our time, the rest of the UK have the most votes. "Leave" is ahead by 400,000 votes with 14.6 million votes counted.

"Leave" likely to win

9:50  Expectations are growing that "leave" will win as the voting count approaches the halfway point. "Leave" now leads 52 - 48 percent. The British pound is down 8% already, a huge plunge, indicating the financial community sees little hope of remaining in the EU.

10:00 Very little talk now of a victory for the "remain" side. Instead, people are talking about whether the leader of the "remain" camp, Prime Minister David Cameron will have to resign. Most say "yes" since the PM will likely have to organise the negotiations to leave the EU. The "leave" vote is approaching the 10 million mark, about 500,000 in the lead.

10:40  25 million votes counted – well over half – and "leave" has an 800,000 vote lead. Watch the stock market today. Analysts expect a huge fall on the London Stock Exchange when it opens, seven percent or more. Watch how our local market reacts when it opens. And watch the baht too.

11:00  With only 53 out of 382 results left to declare, the "leave" vote is up by almost one million. It's over. Britain will leave the European Union, a process that could take two years. Now let's see how financial markets react. It could be a wild day.

First mainland Brexit result closer than expected

London,  AFP – The first mainland result declared in Britain's historic EU referendum on Thursday gave a very slender lead to the campaign to stay in the bloc, but was much closer than expected, an expert said.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the northeast of England voted "Remain" by 50.7 percent, with 49.3 percent backing "Leave", on a turnout of 68 percent.

"Wow. That could be a very big worry" for Prime Minister David Cameron's "Remain" side, Professor Simon Hix of the London School of Economics told reporters in London.

He said that under his projections, if the whole of Britain was split evenly, Newcastle should have voted "Remain" by a margin of 18 points.

The Guardian reports, however, that vote is also closer in some some areas which were thought to strongly favour leaving the EU.

Thursday evening update

20:20 The British media is under some restriction until polls close (more than seven hours from now), but the Guardian reports the British pound has rallied as has the stock market. Clearly investors expect Britain to remain in the EU.

Afternoon update

17:20 People have many different reasons for supporting or opposing Britain's break from the EU. Here in Thailand, fans of the Premier League might hope that Britain remains in the EU because leaving could make it more difficult for star European players, especially young players, to come in since they would need to qualify for a work permit – something that is not that easy at the moment.

15:30 Very heavy early-morning rain in southeastern English, including London, has caused some concern in the "remain" camp, as their side was expected to benefit from a a high turnout. There was flooding in parts of the British capital and transportation systems were disrupted. Currently, it is reported to be cloudy and the rain may stay away until late afternoon London time. Elsewhere in the country, the weather is much better.

Britain votes today on "remain" or "leave"

Britain votes today on whether to remain in or leave the European Union, but with a 6-hour time difference (it is summer in the United Kingdom so much of the country has set clocks one hour forward), the real excitement will begin here in Thailand tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the key facts on what has become known as Brexit: "British Exit"

From AFP

Voting and counting

Voters will be presented with one question: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?"

They will have two possible answers: "Remain a member of the European Union" or "Leave the European Union".

There are a total of 46,499,537 registered voters, according to the latest figures from the Electoral Commission. This is more than in last year's general election when 46,354,197 people were registered.

Polls are open from 7:00 am to 10:pm (13:00 - 04:00 Thailand time) and counting begins as soon as the last votes are cast, with the result expected early on Friday morning.

There are no official exit polls because polling experts say the lack of recent comparable votes in Britain could make the results less reliable.

There are 382 local counting areas which will all declare their results independently throughout the night.

The first two, Sunderland in northeast England and Wandsworth in London, are expected to declare at about 01:30 (07:30 Thailand time).

The first big wave of results is expected after 02:00  (08:00 Thailand time) Friday and another wave a couple of hours afterwards.

Turnout is likely to be announced earlier, which may give an indication of the result to come, with a high turnout expected to favour the "Remain" camp.

The final national result will be announced in Manchester Town Hall in northern England.

Key issues

A "Leave" victory would make Britain the first country to leave the European Union in the bloc's 60-year history, leaving it in uncharted waters at an already troubled time.

EU leaders warned that leaving the 28-member bloc would be final. "Out is out," European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels, dismissing any talk of a post-vote renegotiation just hours before polls open.

Though many British voters fret over the possible financial consequences of a Brexit, others relish the prospect of taking back power from Brussels and reining in high levels of immigration.

Leaders in the "remain camp" point out that a British withdrawal would trigger a lengthy exit negotiation, leading to the loss of unfettered access to its partners in the 28-nation market and forcing the country to strike its own trade accords across the world.

สามารถฝึกอ่านออกเสียงและดูคำแปลได้ที่ : http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/1017789/eu-referendum-britain-votes-today-on-remain-or-leave-