With 99 percent of the votes counted in a referendum in Britain on whether or not to stay in the European Union, leaving was leading over remaining by 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent. Some 16 million people voted to leave, and 15 million to stay.
Scotland and Northern Ireland voted in favor of staying, while England and Wales voted to leave.
While results were not yet considered official, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage had already claimed victory. “I now dare to dream that the dawn is coming up on an independent United Kingdom,” he said over Twitter. In a speech, he referred to June 23 as Independence Day.
In what many see as an insensitive comment, Farage said victory was achieved “without a shot being fired,” ignoring that Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a pro-Brexit supporter days before the referendum.
Many analysts were saying the vote marked an end to the political career of UK Prime Minister David Cameron (Conservative Party), and that new general elections may soon be called, while some members of his party supported him staying to lead exit negotiations.
International reaction began to pour in overnight. Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bild said on Twitter the “drama on the British Isles beyond comprehension.” He added: “If this becomes true, we are headed for immediate turmoil and long term uncertainty.” He was also concerned about the economic implications. “I see that even the Zimbabwe currency is now gaining ground against the UK pound,” he said, referring to the value of the British pound falling to a 31-year low.
The amount of the lead came to many a a surprise. Opinion polling before the June 23 vote showed “remain” with a slight lead, but most pundits said it was too close to call.
Most British citizens living in Prague favored staying in the European Union, although many could not vote on the issue as they had lived abroad for longer than 15 years.
Some people had personal reasons for wanting Britain to remain in the EU.
“People back in the UK think of the European Union as an abstract thing but for me, it’s a reality. I have a Czech wife and a half-Czech, half-British daughter. When it comes to residency permits, there was a big reduction in the amount of bureaucracy I had to deal with when the Czech Republic joined the EU and it’s depressing to think we might go back to that,” Sam Beckwith, a technical writer who is originally from the Greater Manchester area, said before the polls closed.
Other people took a broad view of the benefits of EU membership. “As an Irish/British dual national living in Prague I think very much in European terms and can’t imagine why anyone would want to weaken the European Union. Of course, it has problems that need to be fixed — the EU is not nearly democratic enough and needs to be more answerable to voters. But it’s largely done the job which it was set up to do, which is to ensure peace in Europe, and for all its faults, it’s still the best way to deal with problems like climate change and migration,” said Karen Mahony, who runs the design company Baba Studio. “By the way, as a migrant myself, I am supportive of migration, but I do see that it puts strains on some countries and is best managed co-cooperatively across the whole of Europe,” Mahony added.
Ewan McLaren, artistic director of the Alfred ve dvoře Theatre in Prague, also said changing the EU is better than leaving it. “I am a dual UK-Canadian citizen that cannot vote in this referendum as I have not lived in the UK for years. My basic position is that the UK should stay in the European Union and work with others to change it. Probably the biggest problem with the EU is with its communications,” he said. “Through both financing and legislation the EU does influence our lives greatly yet the perception is that it neither markets its successes well nor keeps up an adequate dialogue with citizens about its weaknesses and failures. It has not even managed to debunk the myriad of myths and misinterpretations about the EU, which cloud people’s judgment about how well it is working and leave them vulnerable to manipulation. Britons who are voting to leave are forgetting the UK’s instrumental active role in keeping essential dialogue in Europe continuing since World War II,” he added.
A graphic novel artist originally from Scotland also praised the EU’s role in keeping peace. “I would say that the EU has brought a sustainable peace to Europe, most recently with regard to the UK and peace in Northern Ireland,” said Stewart Moore, who was raised in Aberdeen and Glasgow.
“In 1916 we were blowing the crap out of each other [in World War I], today, in 2016 we furiously debate. That’s progress. Too many in my family died or were wounded fighting in Europe. Now we ballot,” he said.
He also said a new vote on Scottish independence would be likely if Britain left the EU. “A Brexit vote, far from being for a traditional Britain, is a vote that will trigger a second Scottish referendum. I think Northern Ireland is likely to go the same way. [and leave]. The ‘little Englander’ voter will likely get their way because it will only be little England in the end,” Moore said.
A referendum in Scotland for independence failed on Sept. 18, 2014. Scottish politicians have already said they would revisit the issue if the Britain left the EU. Scotland would likely seek to rejoin the EU as an independent country.
