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Britain lost PM and 200 billion pounds by quitting EU

By Hosni Emam LONDON, JUNE 24 (KUNA) -- Britain Friday lost its place in the European Union, a prime minister and 200 billion pounds from the stock market after its shock vote to withdraw from the EU, commentators said.
Britain has spoken, backing Brexit (leaving the union) by a slender margin, leading to turmoil in the UK markets and tremors in the rest of Europe, some analysts said.
Premier David Cameron announced this morning he will be gone by October.
Meanwhile, the world is reacting. The pound is crashing. European leaders are in a panic. Former premier Tony Blair said he is very sad, they said. And there is the small matter of Jeremy Corbyn, the main opposition Labour leader who fought what even his supporters said was a "lukewarm" campaign to remain in the EU.
On the other hand, the dream of a united Europe is over, after this negative vote by the British people in the EU union. Born in the ruins of a continent torn apart by war seven decades ago, Britain decided to walk away "without a shot being fired", as pointed out by the opponents of the EU here.
Some observers warned that Brexit will strike terror into the hearts of European governments and force a dramatic rethink of the organisation which aimed to bind nation states tightly together in the name of peace and prosperity.
Britain, the EU's second-largest net funder, is the first country to walk away and the fear of contagion is real, they noted. In ten European countries surveyed by the Pew Research Center here, just 51 per cent of voters had a favourable view of the EU. Only 19 per cent of voters wanted more power to be handed to Brussels and 42 per cent wanted power to be returned to national capitals.
The British referendum had already forced even Jean-Claude Juncker, the arch-federalist president of the European Commission - the institution which proposes all those directives and regulations - to admit that the EU meddled too much in everyday life.
Cameron said in his statement outside Downing Street today British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected".
"The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.
"I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months. But I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.
"This is not a decision I have taken lightly. But I do believe it's in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required.
"There is no need for a precise timetable today. But in my view we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of the Conservative party conference in October." Appearing close to tears, he finished by saying: "I love this country and I feel honoured to have served it and I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed".
His resignation came after swathes of England and Wales ignored the prime minister's warnings on the economic consequences of Brexit to express their anger over immigration and inequality in a popular revolt that has left the country deeply divided, the commentators declared. Cameron said the country had "just taken part in a giant democratic exercise, perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar have all had their say".
Despite a lot of criticism, he defended his decision to hold the referendum, stating: "We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we've governed there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves, and that is what we have done." In a related development, in a speech to reassure the markets today Mark Carney, the governor OF Bank of England said he "stands ready to provide" more than 250 billion pounds of funds to aid the smooth functioning of markets after the Brexit vote.
"The people of the United Kingdom have voted to leave the European Union. Inevitably, there will be a period of uncertainty and adjustment following this result," he said.
Pledging, however, to try to ensure stability, he said: "As a backstop, and to support the functioning of markets, the Bank of England stands ready to provide more than 250 billion pounds of additional funds through its normal facilities. The Bank of England is also able to provide substantial liquidity in foreign currency, if required." However, Britain is expected to lose its last remaining triple-A credit rating, with the agency S&P warning that maintaining it is "untenable".
Better-than-expected results for Leave outside the capital left Cameron clinging to the hope that wins in London and Scotland could spare him from humiliating referendum defeat.
But at 4.39am the BBC called the result for Leave with a projected vote share of 52 against 48 for Remain. At the final result, 33,577,342 votes had been cast, with 16,141,241 in favour of Remain and 17,410,742 in favour of Leave.
The referendum results exposed a country polarised, with London, Scotland and Northern Ireland the only regions with a majority Remain vote, the commentators said.
Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, said he was certain that his successor, Nicola Sturgeon, would now demand a second independence referendum.
The ballot is set to stoke further calls for similar plebiscites in other member states of the EU, according to some commentators. The commentators said Cameron had relied heavily on warnings of the damaging economic consequences of Brexit from a chorus of experts as he made the case to stay in.
But it was the fear of the influx of immigration from Europe here that influenced the argument. (end) he.rk