India and the world woke up to a stunning repudiation by Britain that voted to leave the European Union. The nation’s elites vote out is the biggest blow to the European Unity project since World War Two.
Indian markets opened with BBC breaking the news of the results of ‘Brexit’ (an abbreviation of ‘British Exit’ from EU) and soon the sensex tanked over 1000 points. The financial markets globally plunged as nearly complete results showed a 51.8/48.2 per cent split in favour of leaving. The vote resulted in a kind of a catastrophe in financial markets which is the biggest shock since the 2008 economic crisis.
The British currency, pound, suffered its biggest one-day fall in history, plunging more than 10 per cent against the dollar to hit levels last seen in 1985.
It will be two years of messy divorce proceedings with the EU which shall surely cast doubt on London’s future as a global financial capital.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who gambled upon the nation’s fate with a referendum, said that a new leader is needed for the nation by October, and cleared the haze around him (post results) by indicating that he would step down.
The euro slumped more than 3 per cent against the dollar on concerns that a Brexit vote will do wider economic and political damage to the world’s biggest trade bloc, stripped of its second largest economy.
Investors poured into safe-haven assets including gold, and the yen surged. European shares were on course to open 6 to 7.5 per cent lower.
“Dare to dream that the dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom,” said Nigel Farage, leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party, calling the EU a “doomed project”.
“This will be a victory for real people, a victory for ordinary people, a victory for decent people … Let June 23 go down in our history as our independence day.”
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Thursday’s vote “makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union.”
Northern Ireland’s largest Irish nationalist party, Sinn Fein, said the result intensified the case for a vote on whether to quit the United Kingdom.
European politicians reacted with shock. “Please tell me I’m still sleeping and this is all just a bad nightmare!” former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb tweeted.
The article first published on www.lafdatv.com
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