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Britain votes to leave EU, PM Cameron resigns

Voters appeared to have to shrugged off warnings that a Brexit would create a budget hole requiring spending cuts and tax increases once they lose unfettered trade access to the EU.

Their decision will reawaken fears of a domino-effect ripple of exit votes in EU-sceptic members that could imperil the integrity of the bloc, already struggling with twin economic and refugee crises.

Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders and French National Front leader Marine Le Pen immediately called for referendums on EU membership in their own countries.

“The eurosceptic genie is out of the bottle and it will now not be put back,” Farage said.

The referendum means the world’s fifth-largest economy must now go it alone in the global economy, launching lengthy exit negotiations with the bloc and brokering new deals with all the countries it now trades with under the EU’s umbrella.

– ‘Sad day’ –

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned the EU will “not be bending over backwards” to help Britain in those negotiations. Analysts say it could take the island nation a decade to secure new trade accords worldwide.

“It looks like a sad day for Europe and the United Kingdom,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Twitter.

In a worst-case scenario, the International Monetary Fund has warned that the British economy could sink into recession next year and overall economic output would be 5.6 percent lower than otherwise forecast by 2019, with unemployment rising back above six percent.

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Thousands of jobs in the City could be transferred to Frankfurt or Paris, top companies have warned. The Brexit camp argued that the business world will adapt quickly, however, with Britain’s flexible and dynamic economy buoyed by new economic partners and selective immigration.

– Split in two –

The often vitrolic campaign has left Britain riven in two, marked by the brutal murder of pro-“Remain” British lawmaker Jo Cox, a mother of two who was stabbed, shot and left bleeding to death on the pavement a week ahead of the vote.

Two years after Scotland voted in a referendum to remain in the United Kingdom, its political leader First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said a new independence vote is “definitely on the table” after Britain voted against the majority will expressed by Scots.

“Scotland sees its future as part of the EU,” Sturgeon told television news after the vote.

Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, is now faced with the prospect of customs barriers for trade with EU-member the Republic of Ireland. Irish republicans Sinn Fein called for a vote on Irish unity following the referendum.

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