United Kingdom exit from the European Union

The exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, also known as Brexit, refers to official plans and progress for the country to leave the international political and trading union comprising 28 member states across Europe. On 23rd June 2016, voters in a UK-wide referendum opted to leave the EU, triggering proposals to disentangle the UK's laws and international agreements from the wider bloc. The vote led the current UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, to notify the nation of his intention to step down following an interim period prior to the election of a new leader of his Conservative Party, who would also replace him as premier. That leader is expected to formally initiate the process to leave the EU.

The initial response to the referendum result on 24th June comprised a significant downturn in global stock markets, a signal from the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, that her Scottish National Party would seek a second referendum on the nation leaving the UK, and various comments from national and international organisations on stabilising the markets and respecting the referendum result in an orderly way.

The weekend of 25th-26th June saw further political upheaval. The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Hilary Benn, was sacked by the Leader of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, for questioning his leadership of the Labour Party's 'remain' campaign after it emerged that many Labour-supporting areas had strongly-backed Brexit. During Sunday, a series of senior Opposition figures resigned amid calls for Corbyn to step down. Meanwhile, the Scottish First Minister suggested that the Scottish Parliament might block UK withdrawal, and a petition on the UK government website for a second referendum on EU membership reached over three million signatories. (This petition had originally been started by a 'leave' supporter on the assumption of a 'remain' verdict.)