Brexit: All you need to know about the UK leaving the EU
By Alex Hunt & Brian Wheeler - BBC News
12 December 2016
Why is Britain leaving the European Union?
A referendum - a vote in which everyone (or nearly everyone) of voting age can take part - was held on Thursday 23 June, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union. Leave won by 52% to 48%. The referendum turnout was 71.8%, with more than 30 million people voting.
What was the breakdown across the UK?
England voted for Brexit, by 53.4% to 46.6%, as did Wales, with Leave getting 52.5% of the vote and Remain 47.5%. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed staying in the EU. Scotland backed Remain by 62% to 38%, while 55.8% in Northern Ireland voted Remain and 44.2% Leave.
What has happened since the referendum?
Britain has got a new Prime Minister - Theresa May. The former home secretary took over from David Cameron, who resigned on the day after losing the referendum.
Like Mr Cameron, Mrs May was against Britain leaving the EU but she says she will respect the will of the people. She has said "Brexit means Brexit" but there is still a lot of debate about what that will mean in practice especially on the two key issues of how British firms do business in the European Union and what curbs are brought in on the rights of European Union nationals to live and work in the UK.
What about the economy?
The UK economy appears to have weathered the initial shock of the Brexit vote, although the value of the pound remains near a 30-year low, but opinion is sharply divided over the long-term effects of leaving the EU. Some major firms such as Easyjet and John Lewis have pointed out that the slump in sterling has increased their costs.
Britain also lost its top AAA credit rating, meaning the cost of government borrowing will be higher. But share prices have recovered from a dramatic slump in value, with both the FTSE 100 and the broader FTSE 250 index, which includes more British-based businesses, trading higher than before the referendum.
The Bank of England is hoping its decision to cut interest rates from 0.5% to 0.25% - a record low and the first cut since 2009 - will stave off recession and stimulate investment, with some economic indicators pointing to a downturn.
EU is a significant achievement internationally and historically. It's pretty not easy to gather countries and help each other. Some citizens in UK only looked on the disadvantage of staying in EU, and even some thought UK was so great that didn't have to stay in EU. Many of them were not aware of the disadvantage of leaving EU and voted to leave. When the result of referendum came out and they learned the shortcomings, some regretted but it was too late. Hope the leader of UK will find out how to governance UK without EU quickly.
回覆刪除That the value of pound remains really low is a great news to those shopaholic s. They can purchase those luxurious and superior quality'stuffs in the UK now. The other side of this issue, whether UK is in EU or not, I think they can still stand in the greatest seat in the world.
回覆刪除