UK Referendum

[gangstarrrrr]

First results just starting to roll in.

What's your view? I voted in, too much to lose for the UK outside of Europe. Better together.

[demer]

As someone in the US can you break down the argument for and against? I knew it was happening but never really understood why.

[Akela3rd]

Simple. If you believe we should stay in the EU and we vote to leave then the country will be financially ruined and overrun by immigrants. However, if you believe that we should leave the EU and we vote to stay then the country will be financially ruined and overrun by immigrants.

It's been weeks of increasingly idiotic bullshitting and scaremongering by both sides and my opinion of politicians has never been lower (and it was pretty F'ing low to start). Sorry for the lack of political insight you were looking for, you got an honest opinion instead.

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[MIKA27]

10 minutes ago, demer said:

As someone in the US can you break down the argument for and against? I knew it was happening but never really understood why.

Whingeing Poms  

No, seriously, HERE are the reason(s) for Brexit

[Cletus]

1 hour ago, Akela3rd said:

...It's been weeks of increasingly idiotic bullshitting and scaremongering by both sides and my opinion of politicians has never been lower (and it was pretty F'ing low to start).

 

I thought we weren't supposed to talk about US politics.

Oh, wait a minute....carry on.

[El Presidente]

Keep us up to speed with the vote. 

Google is not strong here ....easier to follow the forum 

[gangstarrrrr]

Very close so far 3.05m remain vs 2.95m leave. It is thought the winning point will be somewhere around 16.5m

[planetary]

Oy, Prez!  If you Google for "brexit", the page shows realtime results: https://www.google.com/?ion=1&espv=2#q=brexit  

Right now it's 49.9% vs 50.1% with 27% reporting.

[gangstarrrrr]

Is Google banned in China?

Extremely tight. 4.78m remain 4.86m leave.

[maxcjs0101]

http://www.bbc.com/news/politics/eu_referendum/results

[CaptainQuintero]

It looks like Brexit has clinched it, about 75% chance of it forecast now 

If it holds the PM is probably packing his bags already. A new general election with Boris Johnson standing for PM isn't impossible if it happens

[MIKA27]

Pound Collapses as Britain Plunges Into Isolation

LONDON—Britain has stunned the global financial markets by hurtling towards the exit door of the European Union.

The pound suffered its worst day in more than 30 years, plunging downwards, as DOW futures and other markets prepared for a huge jolt to the global financial system.

A leading anti-European Union campaigner, who had earlier said he expected to lose the referendum, reappeared as dawn broke over Britain to claim a dramatic victory.

"Let June 23rd go down in history as our Independence Day," shouted Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party, with both arms held aloft.
As he spoke, billions of pounds was being drained from the British economy.

It was a tumultuous end to an extraordinary day in which thunderous storms and floodwater lashed Britain as the nation faced up to its most profound decision in a generation.

Despite a strong showing for the Remain campaign in London and Scotland, the rest of Britain voted decisively to quit the EU.

Arguments about loss of sovereignty and loss of border control trumped the grave economic forecasts.

There were no exit polls because polling companies said they would be unable to accurately predict a one-off vote. Pollsters YouGov published a projection based on a survey of 5,000 people taken on polling day. That model estimated that Remain waps ahead by 52% to Leave's 48%.

Farage’s early pessimism was based on the YouGov numbers but also reports that turnout has been very high despite the rainstorms. The Leave campaign expected that a smaller electorate would be more likely to vote for Britain to exit the EU, which has become known as Brexit.

As soon as the first real vote counts were announced, it became clear that the pollsters' forecasts had been wrong yet again. 

Newcastle, a vibrant city in the North East, was the first to announce its results; a strong expected win for Remain was slashed to a narrow 2-point victory.

An even more dramatic shock followed in neighboring Sunderland, a grittier former industrial center. The Leave campaign was hoping for a double-digit victory there, but that was blown away by a stunning 22 point margin.

Flashfloods had earlier submerged roads and landslides closed railway lines leaving commuters in and around London battling the elements in order to make it to the polling booth. Some of those made it only to discover that their polling station had been forced to close due to floodwater.

It was crucial for Remain to stack up millions of votes in the capital, but turnout was lower in the inner city areas where the Remain vote was strongest.

The campaign on Britain’s membership of the European Union has been bruising. It's driven a new fault-line through public life; Conservatives have been pitched against Conservatives, Labour against Labour, fathers and mothers against their sons and daughters.

The assassination of Jo Cox, a young pro-Europe Member of Parliament, who was allegedly shot dead at close range by a far-right radical, transformed the final week of the campaign into a deeply bitter fight as both sides accused the other of politicizing her death.

Although most are still rightly confused about what exactly would happen if Britain voted to leave the European Union, it was obvious that this decision is far more important than a General Election.

As Britons wake on Friday morning to see their economy teetering, they will be forced to face the reality in stark terms.

For months, friends and neighbors have been thrust into heated political arguments for the first time in decades. That is likely to continue as Britain strives to negotiate a new future outside the European Union.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who gambled his own political future as well as the health of Europe’s economies on a referendum that he believed he would win comfortably, is not expected to last long in his job despite assurances that he would stay on to oversee the negotiation period.

"If his party do persuade him to stay on his authority is completely gone, I would have thought that any sense of self respect would make him want to go,” said Sir Vince Cable, a Liberal Democrat minister in Cameron’s last government. “I feel that his day is now gone."

Cameron's resignation would automatically trigger a Conservative Party leadership contest, but not a General Election. The next Tory leader would move into No. 10 Downing St but would be under huge pressure to ask the public to give them consent in an election soon afterwards.

Britain is one of the central pillars of a pan-European union that was forged in the embers of the Second World War. It was initially reluctant to commit, but signed up in 1973 after another bitterly divisive referendum. Britain's decision to quit risks the prospect of the entire union collapsing as nations like Sweden, Italy and Greece ponder their own referenda.

London’s financial markets have been in turmoil amid the uncertainty. As opinion polls lurched towards a Leave vote earlier this month, $150 billion was wiped off the value of Britain’s biggest companies in just four days.

The markets recovered many of those losses in the lead up to polling day, which meant a Remain victory was priced into the market and they were totally unprepared for what was to follow. So was Britain.

[Perla]

Oh dear, oh dear. I am not amused.

[Miner]

Looks like Boris might be the new PM

[Ferrero]

Absolutely shocked. Obviously Cameron doesn't have execute anything but it would been seen as political suicide if he didn't go with the people. On the other hand I would love to see him put his balls on the line, stand up and say that this is the worst decision for GB. Maybe people will reflect on this crazy five minutes and realise it's a mistake.

Scotland voted IN so I wouldn't be surprised if they bail on the UK when the next opportunity arises. 

[DrunkenMonkey]

Does Gibraltar get to vote on leaving the uk now?  That's got to be a crazy situation. 

[Akela3rd]

And now we wait for the crowing and preening of the Leave camp, then listen to see how many times the phrase "I hadn't thought of that" is used as the pound collapses, holiday costs increase, borders between NI and the Repubic are rebuilt, companies leave the UK and the right wing rises on the temporary xenophobic rush.

Cynical, moi?

[maxcjs0101]

So what happens next?

[Akela3rd]

So what happens next?

See above

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[maxcjs0101]

1 minute ago, Akela3rd said:

See above

Sent from my HTC One M8s using Tapatalk

Ahh thanks. My internet's a little slow today.

[MIKA27]

8 minutes ago, Akela3rd said:

 

And now we wait for the crowing and preening of the Leave camp, then listen to see how many times the phrase "I hadn't thought of that" is used as the pound collapses, holiday costs increase, borders between NI and the Repubic are rebuilt, companies leave the UK and the right wing rises on the temporary xenophobic rush.

 

Cynical, moi?

Not to mention the effects on the global economies.... 

[LordAnubis]

Nothing happens for now.... its a process to leave, and a referendum doesn't mean crap. Britain can still pull a Mugabe and say the vote wasnt convincing enough

When they do leave its not game over, they still negotiate terms with EU. EU could play hard ball, and UK could roll over, or EU might let em have almost the same as they had before.

[Fuzz]

I read that there is renewed talk from Northern Ireland and Scotland to split from the UK.

[gangstarrrrr]

Sturgeon indicating they will vote again on Scottish independence.

[westg]

Pound already down to lowest level since 1985 ...hold on tight