UK REFERENDUM ON EU MEMBERSHIP

The UK voted yesterday to leave the European Union (EU) by 52%, versus 48% to remain. Prime Minister David Cameron today announced that he will step down by October 2016.

At 07.20hrs (UK time), the Chief Counting Officer declared that Leave voters had won by 52% to 48%, a lead of 1,269,501 votes. The Turnout was 72%.

The Prime Minister made a statement this morning, in which he said that ‘There can be no doubt about the result. The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered’. He also announced he would step down as Prime Minister by October and said that it would be for the new Prime Minister to begin a negotiation with the European Union and to start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.

He reassured British people living in the EU, and European citizens in the UK, that there would be no immediate changes to their circumstances, and that there would be no initial change to the way people can travel, in the way goods can move or the way services can be sold.  His statement is available here.

The Governor of the Bank of England has also made a statement today which is available here. The FTSE 100 has fallen 4.4% since opening.  Sterling has fallen 6.7% to $1.39 and around 4.8% on a trade-weighted basis, as has the Euro, by almost 2.4% to $1.1.

The Prime Minister will travel to Brussels for the June European Council on 28 June 2016 and the Minister for Europe is today due to attend the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg.

SHG

24 June 2016

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