Afternoon summary: Saturday's events
• European Union governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the bloc quickly.
As Europe scrambled on Saturday to respond to the momentous Brexit vote, foreign ministers from the EU’s six founding members states meeting in emergency session in Berlin demanded the earliest possible start to the Brexit process.
• Britain’s most senior EU official, Jonathan Hill, is resigning.
Lord Hill, who was sent to Brussels by David Cameron and took the highly-prized portfolio of financial services, said he didn’t believe it was right for him to carry on in the post. He was standing down in line with what he had discussed with the president of the European Commission some weeks ago, he added.
• France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Britain “must trigger” article 50 – the procedure for leaving the EU.
It would “not be respectful” for Britain to delay the process, he said. On Friday, David Cameron said he would delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor as prime minister takes over.
• Nicola Sturgeon is to directly lobby EU member states to help ensure that Scotland can remain part of the union.
The first minister has disclosed that she will invite all EU diplomats based in Scotland to a summit in Edinburgh within the next two weeks, in a bid to sidestep the UK government.
• Jeremy Corbyn , the Labour leader, has said that areas that voted most strongly to leave in the EU referendum are “communities that have effectively been abandoned” by economic change and the austerity policies of Britain’s Conservative government.
Corbyn, who is under pressure from MPs in his party to step down and faces a motion of no confidence in his leadership, said “I am here” when asked if he would take part in any new leadership contest.
• Sadiq Khan has told the one million Europeans living in London that they remain welcome despite Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
The mayor, speaking at the capital’s Pride festival on Saturday afternoon, said the city was grateful for the enormous contribution made by Europeans and said that would not change despite the referendum result.
• Angela Merkel says it “shouldn’t take forever” for the UK to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the European Union.
The German chancellor said she was seeking a “objective, good” climate in talks on Britain’s EU exit and that there was no need to make deterrence a priority.
• Theresa May, the home secretary, is emerging as the leading choice for a “Stop Boris” candidate among Conservative MPs who want a new prime minister to unify the party. Boris Johnson is the clear favourite to succeed David Cameron.
• Justine Greening, the international development secretary, has revealed she is in a same-sex relationship, making her the first openly gay female in the cabinet.
She chose the day of London’s Pride parade to make her announcement.
Ed Miliband has said Jeremy Corbyn was not to blame for the failed Remain campaign.
He said the referendum result reflected deafness in Westminster to problems outside London and a wider discontent about jobs and housing. “I don’t think we should blame Jeremy Corbyn for the seismic earthquake,” he said at the Glastonbury festival on Saturday.
The task ahead was to focus beyond party politics and the future of the country, he told a small crowd in a muddy arena. “Part of the problem is that Westminster has been talking to itself too much.”
Miliband said Labour’s political vision for a post-Brexit Britain was “not there yet” and called on the left to regroup: “Our task is to come up with that vision and to use this opportunity to recognise what’s driven this decision.”
The former leader is the only senior Labour figure to appear at Glastonbury after both Jeremy Corbyn and shadow chancellor John McDonnell pulled out of scheduled panel discussions.
Miliband the exit vote reflected years of pent-up “legitimate grievances” about jobs, housing as well as immigration. “This is a moment when many people are feeling fear but, in my view, we have got to accept the vote and then shape it [the future] around
progressive causes,” he said.
He also called on David Cameron to ratify the Paris climate change agreement as his last act in office.
Updated
Didier Seeuws, a Belgian aide to former EU president Herman Van Rompuy, will head the union’s taskforce to negotiate Britain’s exit from the union.
Preben Aamann, a spokesman for EU president Donald Tusk, said a task force to handle the negotiations will be lead by Seeuws. He was doing preparatory work as negotiations had not yet begun.
Tusk and other top EU officials have said that the talks should begin as soon as possible even though David Cameron said he would leave the negotiations to his successor, who is not expected to take over until October.
European Parliament president Martin Schulz said that Cameron’s decision to wait until October to leave was “scandalous” and tantamount to “taking the whole [European] continent hostage”.
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Police are investigating suspected post-referendum racism after hate mail aimed at the Polish community was allegedly distributed in Cambridgeshire.
Laminated cards reading “Leave the EU - no more Polish vermin” were found in Huntingdon, north west of Cambridge.
The Polish language newspaper, Nasze Strony, reports on the incident and on the fact that the cards even had a translation in Polish on the reverse.
Teachers at a school near to where some of the cards were found yesterday reportedly threw them away but more were left on a path leading to it later.
Inspector Nick Percival of Cambridgeshire Constabulary told the Guardian that police were aware of the incident.
He added: “We are aware of it and have had a report from a member of the public. We are following up are taking it seriously as it does represent a hate crime. We would encourage anyone who is either a victim or is aware of the source of this to come forward.”
Not to be outdone, David Cameron has also sent a tweet to Justine Greening:
Congratulations Justine - that's great news. https://t.co/u64o9WMLTs
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) June 25, 2016
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson - who is also gay - tweeted earlier:
Glad to hear you're happy & settled. R x https://t.co/uWGpG2Rkdd
— Ruth Davidson (@RuthDavidsonMSP) June 25, 2016
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Holding a referendum on the question of Irish unification while the British government is negotiating the UK’s exit from the European Union would only lead to divisions, according to Ireland’s Foreign Minister, Charlie Flanagan.
The comments by Flanagan, who also said that the unification of Ireland would be in the best interests of its citizens, come after calls from Irish Republicans for the question to be put to voters in the wake of the UK referendum result.
“I share the view that at some stage in the future that the unification would be in the best interests of the people but only when there is a majority consent of the people in Northern Ireland,” he told the Irish national broadcaster RTE.
“We now have a situation following the referendum, where the UK is leaving the European Union. Any further referendums in Northern Ireland would cause a greater level of division than we have now and is therefore in my view particularly unhelpful.”
Under the 1999 Belfast Agreement, the UK’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland can call a referendum if it appears likely a majority of those voting would seek to form part of a united Ireland.
However, Theresa Villiers, the Northern Ireland secretary and a leave supporter, has rejected calls for a referendum on Northern Ireland position inside the UK.
The calls have been led by senior Sinn Fein leader, including Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, who said the British government had no democratic mandate to represent the views of those in Northern Ireland after 56 percent of voters there sought to remain in the EU compared to the 52 percent of the UK as a whole who voted to leave.
Opinion polls have consistently shown little appetite from voters on either side of the border for unification. A BBC/RTE survey in November found that 30 percent of voters in Northern Ireland would like to see a united Ireland in their lifetime.
Lisa O’Carroll is at Glastonbury, where she’s keeping an eye out for post referendum chat amid the mud and music:
This little tent in Green Futures field is where Ed Miliband is about to talk. Not many here .. #glasto pic.twitter.com/IllY1NEuHf
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) June 25, 2016
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George Osborne, the chancellor, has popped up to congratulate Justine Greening after largely keeping his head down since the referendum result, which he appears to make a reference to:
Congrats Justine. Best news in last 48 hours! MT "@JustineGreening: Today a good day to say I'm in a happy same sex relationship #Pride2016"
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 25, 2016
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The referendum result has been greeted with dismay from residents of the French port of Calais, reports Mark Townsend for the Observer, and there are now calls for a nearby refugee camp to be moved across the channel.
Many of the port’s residents paraphrased a central slogan from the defeated remain camp, as if repeating it might undo an unwelcome development. “We’re stronger together, it’s obvious,” said 45-year-old taxi driver Frank.
Xavier Chauberi, 42, who works at the Eurotunnel terminal at nearby Coquelles, admitted to being horrified at the venom of the referendum debate in the British media. “It’s crazy that this has happened. Maybe it’s an island mentality thing. Great Britain is one of the biggest members of Europe and what does it mean for us now?”
Inevitably, talk turned quickly to the border. Less than 12 hours after the news came that Britain had voted to leave, the mayor of Calais urged the scrapping of a deal that allows the UK to carry out immigration checks in France.
Natacha Bouchart said it was now the moment to renegotiate the Le Touquet agreement, which places border controls – and with them the hopeful refugees aspiring to settle in Britain – on the French side of the Channel. Bouchart, stipulating that Britain must “take the consequences” of its vote, wants the Jungle, the sprawling refugee camp on the outskirts of Calais, to be moved across the Strait of Dover.
For many Calais residents, the Jungle is the hottest issue in town. Standing in the central Place d’Armes, architect Nico Cousineau, 34, said: “I am very curious about what they will do with the border now. We want it moved to Dover.
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Justine Greening, the secretary of state for international development, might have been on the losing side in the referendum campaign, but she has been receiving congratulations today after telling her Twitter followers that she is in a same-sex relationship.
Today's a good day to say I'm in a happy same sex relationship, I campaigned for Stronger In but sometimes you're better off out! #Pride2016
— Justine Greening (@JustineGreening) June 25, 2016
The Conservative MP sent out her tweet as Pride 2016 was celebrated across the UK.
Updated
Jeremy Corbyn continues to enjoy support from young voters in particular, if a straw poll of under-25s at Glastonbury by Lisa O’Carroll is anything to go by:
The mere mention of his name in the The Left Field tent, home of political discussions at the festival, raised an enormous cheer on Saturday lunchtime.
Another enormous cheer rang out when Clive Lewis, MP for Norfolk South, who was one of the first to support Corbyn, took a shot at the Blairites in the party.
“I’m not going to stand back and hand my party back to the neoliberals who got us here in the first place.
“They are not the future of the party, you are the future of the party,” he told the crowd urging them to join the party and ensure a “progressive Brexit”.
“I do not want to take my party back. I want to take it forward,” he added.
Green party MEP Molly Scott Cato went further, calling for both the Labour party and Conservative party to “split” into the opposing sides exposed during the referendum.
She warned that the Tories had “no domestic mandate” as those supporting the left and the right had voted for Brexit.
Updated
A number of Labour frontbenchers will threaten to quit next week in a bid to topple Jeremy Corbyn as party leader, according to a report by PoliticsHome.
Two backbench MPs – Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey – tabled a vote of no confidence in Corbyn on Friday in the aftermath of the shock referendum result, blaming what they saw as his lacklustre campaigning for a remain vote.
However, it appears he may be facing a more concerted heave to unseat him than initial reports suggested.
PoliticsHome says that a number of frontbench MPs - including members of the shadow cabinet - will threaten to resign unless he agrees to step down within days:
One senior MP told PoliticsHome: “It will be bloody and messy, but has to be done. The alternative is that we slowly bleed to death.”
The Labour rebels fear that the new Tory leader will call a snap election - and that a Corbyn-led Labour party would suffer a “meltdown”.
One backbencher said: “The groundswell now is that he’s got to go. If we go into a general election in the autumn with him in charge we are screwed.
“What’s got to happen now is that the shadow cabinet has got to have some balls and go to him and say ‘you’ve got to go’.”
Updated
Sadiq Khan has told the one million Europeans who live in London that they remain welcome despite Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.
The mayor, speaking at the capital’s Pride festival on Saturday afternoon, said the city was grateful for the enormous contribution made by Europeans and said that would not change despite the referendum result.
Khan said he was “exploring every avenue” to ensure London could remain in the single market following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, in order to protect jobs and investment.
“London needs to be represented at the negotiating table when it comes to any deal with the EU,” he said.
The Labour mayor urged his party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to recognise that the country had been left divided in the wake of the EU vote and that he must help “heal those rifts”.
Updated
David Cameron is sorry that Britain’s most senior EU officials, Jonathan Hill, has decided to step down, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The spokesman added:
He is extremely grateful to Lord Hill for his service at the European commission in the crucial portfolio of financial stability, financial services and capital markets union.
He has done an excellent job as a commissioner - helping to focus the European commission on measures to promote growth and jobs, in particular his proposals to increase the flow of affordable investment capital across the EU and for giving the UK a strong voice in the European commission. The prime minister wishes Lord Hill well for the future.
Meanwhile, analysis from Twitter has shown that David Cameron’s resignation was the most tweeted-about event surrounding the EU referendum.
Approximately 13,300 tweets were sent per minute as the PM made his speech following the historic decision to leave, according to the social network.
Updated
A petition calling for a new EU referendum has no chance of reversing this week’s historic vote to leave, according to one of Britain’s foremost elections expert.
Professor John Curtice, whose exit poll was the only one to predict the Conservatives would win last year’s general election and who has earned a near sage-like reputation among journalists, said the subject was so divisive within mainstream political parties and their supporters that it would be unlikely to form a campaigning issue for some time, let alone spark another public vote.
Thursday’s referendum saw 17.4 million (51.9%) votes cast to leave the EU, compared with 16.1 million (48.1%) for remaining part of the bloc, with a turnout of 72.2%, according to the Electoral Commission.
In response, nearly 1.5 million people have signed an online petition calling for the government to implement a rule that “if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum”.
Updated
If you’re wondering why article 50 of the Lisbon treaty seems to be on the lips of every politician then you may want to take a look at this piece by the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin, Julian Borger and Mark Rice-Oxley.
The clause sets out how an EU country might voluntarily leave the union. The wording is vague, almost as if the drafters thought it unlikely it would ever come into play.
Now, it is the subject of a dispute between EU leaders desperate for certainty in the wake of the Brexit vote, and Brexiters in the UK playing for time.
Article 50 says: “Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.”
It specifies that a leaver should notify the European council of its intention, negotiate a deal on its withdrawal and establish legal grounds for a future relationship with the EU. On the European side, the agreement needs a qualified majority of member states and consent of the European parliament.
The only real quantifiable detail in the article is a provision that gives negotiators two years from the date of article 50 notification to conclude new arrangements. Failure to do so results in the exiting state falling out of the EU with no new provisions in place, unless every one of the remaining EU states agrees to extend the negotiations.
No country has ever invoked article 50 – yet.
Updated
The Irish Times has pulled no punches in its editorial on Brexit today, calling it a “Bewildering act of self harm.”
The paper believes there will be an “inevitable” return to “lamentable border controls”.
Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionist grandee and former MP Lord Kilclooney (aka John Taylor) has some advice for the Irish Republic.
The peer writes: “The exit of the UK from the EU will damage the Republic more than any of the other 26 EU nations. In order to secure Irish beef, lamb and dairy exports into the UK, as well as ensure there will be no barriers along the border, it would be helpful for the Republic to hold a referendum about its future with the EU.”
Updated
David Cameron was greeted with muted applause when he made an appearance at an armed forces event in Lincolnshire earlier, and was shouted at by at least one person in the crowd, according to the Guardian’s Rowena Mason.
Appearing alongside military chiefs and the Duke of Kent, the prime minister was smiling but did not make any public statement.
Earlier he released a video in support of Pride celebrations, saying Britain was a great country where people of all backgrounds live and work together in harmony.
He also spoke of the Orlando atrocity that was a “direct attack on the LGBT community”.
Cameron did not mention the EU referendum, but added: “Our values - of openness, tolerance, equality and solidarity - is what makes Britain so special.”
PM: Pride says to Londoners, Britain and the world: be yourself. #NoFilter #Pride2016https://t.co/65Bk4IAAVk
— UK Prime Minister (@Number10gov) June 25, 2016
Ciaran Jenkins meanwhile picks up on one of the tunes which may not entirely have been to Cameron’s liking at the Armed Forces event:
Scotland the Brave. That's just rubbing it in. pic.twitter.com/89bVOcbeyg
— Ciaran Jenkins (@C4Ciaran) June 25, 2016
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Ireland’s parliament, the Dáil, is to be recalled on Monday to discuss the implications of Brexit on the Republic, the Irish prime minister has announced.
Enda Kenny also assured the Irish people that the government in Dublin has laid down plans to cope with the UK leaving the EU and to lessen its impact on Ireland.
The taoiseach told RTÉ on Saturday: “There will be no immediate change to the free flow of people, goods and services between our islands.”
Kenny said the government had a contingency plan for Brexit in placeand revealed that he had had a telephone conversation with David Cameron in which the prime minister thanked his Irish counterpart for his support during the referendum campaign.
While Ireland remained solidly neutral during the Scottish Independence referendum of 2014, a number of Irish ministers – includingKenny – actively encouraged Irish citizens living in the UK to vote to temain.
Cameron and Kenny agreed that work must continue between Irish and UK ministers to maintain the stability of the Northern Ireland peace process and power-sharing settlement.
Updated
Footage has emerged of Jeremy Corbyn being confronted at Pride in London by two men who accused him of failing to mobilise the Labour vote to remain in the EU.
One man, and another who appeared to be a friend, filmed himself telling the Labour leader: “It’s your fault Jeremy. I had a Polish friend in tears because you couldn’t get the vote out in Wales, the north, and the midlands.”
Corbyn, walking with some Labour activists, appears to hear the heckles but doesn’t respond.
I get so angry when politicians use the lgbtq+ community to protect their weak leadership pic.twitter.com/9YRVbbce2e
— Tom Mauchline (@TomMauchline) June 25, 2016
Update: The Press Association (PA) reports that Corbyn replies : “I did all I could.”
Tom Mauchline, who was said to be a Labour Party member, later told the PA: “I didn’t come here intending to do this.”
“I didn’t know he was going to be there. We were given 15 minutes’ notice that he was coming and it made me so angry. It just seemed like a cynical attempt to use the LGBT community to shore up his weak leadership.”
Updated
Sadiq Khan will tell the 1 million Europeans who live in London that they remain welcome in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union when he addresses the capital’s Pride event.
The London mayor is expected to say: “We are grateful for the enormous contribution you make, and that will not change as a consequence of yesterday’s referendum result.”
Khan will say that Pride underlines London’s reputation as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world: “In light of yesterday’s result and in the spirit of inclusiveness that binds the LGBT+ community, we all have a responsibility to now seek to heal the divisions that emerged throughout the last weeks and months of the referendum campaign and to focus on what unites us, rather than that which divides us.”
You can read more about today’s Pride in London festivities here.
Updated
Britain’s defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has denied the UK government is a rudderless ship after David Cameron’s post-Brexit resignation.
Speaking at an Armed Forces Day event in Cleethorpes, where he is with the prime minister, Fallon told the Press Association:
The prime minister goes on, the government goes on until the autumn, until there is a new leader and a new government.
We’ll remain at our posts and we have a big agenda. We were elected only a year ago and we’ve set out fresh legislation, which we’re taking through parliament at the moment.
Cabinet is meeting on Monday. We were all elected just a year ago on a big programme of continuing to move the economy forward, creating more jobs, a programme of social reform, and investment in defence which you can see today.
Updated
This sign is on disaplay at the main post office in Belfast:
So here's where we're at. This is the central post office in Belfast #brexit #EURefResults pic.twitter.com/YiZsSID3kU
— Sarah (@Saraita101) June 25, 2016
Latvia’s Valdis Dombrovskis will take over the EU’s financial services portfolio following the resignation of Britain’s Jonathan Hill.
Dombrovskis, a former Latvian prime minister, is responsible for the single currency in the 28-member college of commissioners – one from each EU member state. He is also the commission’s vice-president.
The UK will be entitled to nominate a new commissioner for its remaining time in the EU. The UK’s portfolio will be determined by commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in consultation with the UK government.
Updated
Britain should begin informal negotiations on a full settlement governing its post-exit relationship with the EU before invoking article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, according to the chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign.
“We don’t think there is a need to swiftly invoke article 50,” Matthew Elliott, the chief executive of Vote Leave, told Reuters in an interview. “It’s best for the dust to settle over the summer and during that time for there to be informal negotiations with other states,” he said.
Elliott said the full settlement on Britain’s exit would include all aspects of the relationship, including the British contribution to the EU, access to the single market, extradition agreements and so-called “passporting” for financial services.
“There is no reason why a sensible arrangement couldn’t be put in place for passporting to continue,” he said.
Updated
Lunchtime summary
• European Union governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the bloc quickly, saying talks on the UK’s exit must begin soon and and urging a new British prime minister to take office quickly.
As Europe scrambled on Saturday to respond to the momentous Brexit vote, foreign ministers from the EU’s six founding members states meeting in emergency session in Berlin demanded the earliest possible start to the Brexit process.
• Britain’s most senior EU official, Jonathan Hill, is resigning his position following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
Lord Hill, who was sent to Brussels by David Cameron and took the highly-prized portfolio of financial services, said he didn’t believe it was right for him to carry on in the post. He was standing down in line with what he had discussed with the president of the European Commission some weeks ago, he added.
• France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Britain “must trigger” article 50 – the procedure for leaving the EU, adding that it was urgent Cameron step aside for a new leader to manage the transition out of the union: “A new prime minister must be designated, that will take a few days.”
It would “not be respectful” for Britain to delay the process, Ayrault said. “It’s a question of respect.” On Friday, Cameron said he would delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor as prime minister is in place in the autumn.
• The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, says it “shouldn’t take forever” for the UK to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the European Union but is making clear that the matter is in London’s hands.
Merkel said she is seeking a “objective, good” climate in talks on Britain’s exit from the EU and that there’s no need to make deterrence a priority.
• Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is to directly lobby European Union member states for support in ensuring that Scotland can remain part of the EU, after Scots voted emphatically against Brexit on Thursday.
The first minister has disclosed that she is to invite all EU diplomats based in Scotland to a summit at her official residence in Edinburgh within the next two weeks, in a bid to sidestep the UK government.
• Jeremy Corbyn , the leader of Britain’s Labour party, has said that areas that voted most strongly to leave in the EU referendum are “communities that have effectively been abandoned” by economic change and the austerity policies of Britain’s Conservative government.
Corbyn, who is under pressure from MPs in his party to step down and faces a motion of no confidence in his leadership, said “I am here” when asked if he would take part in any new leadership contest.
You can watch the full video of Corbyn’s address here.
• The European Central Bank has fanned fears that London could lose its status as Europe’s financial capital after warning that the Brexit vote might sever the City’s trade relationship with the EU.
A top ECB official said banks in the City of London risked being stripped of their lucrative EU “passports” that allow them to sell services to the rest of the union. François Villeroy de Galhau said keeping the so-called “passport” would not be possible if the UK leaves the single market.
Updated
Merkel wants 'good, objective' climate for Brexit talks
Angela Merkel says she is seeking a “good, objective” climate for talks about Britain’s departure from the European Union, and that there was no need to be nasty.
The Guardian’s Chris Johnston listened to her speech and reports that the German chancellor said that the EU must work with member countries that are unsure about the benefits of union membership.
Merkel said the bloc could “help them with external borders”, for example, in a bid to allay fears that politicians are not taking the concerns of citizens seriously.
She added that the EU needed to work out “how to make people feel good in a fast-changing world”.
Merkel also said that the “Christian framework is the basis of what we do”.
The Wall Street Journal’s Berlin correspondent tweets:
Merkel says ball is in UK's court now but Germany plans to keep the relationship close #brexit #euref pic.twitter.com/JeChUT7JKX
— Zeke Turner (@zekefturner) June 25, 2016
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In his resignation, Hill added:
Like many people here and in the UK, I am obviously very disappointed about the result of the referendum.
I wanted it to end differently and had hoped that Britain would want to play a role in arguing for an outward-looking, flexible, competitive, free trade Europe. But the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works.
As the UK enters “a new phase”, he didn’t believe that it was right for him to carry on as the British Commissioner “as if nothing had happened”.
In line with what I discussed with the President of the Commission some weeks ago, I have therefore told him that I shall stand down. At the same time, there needs to be an orderly handover, so I have said that I will work with him to make sure that happens in the weeks ahead.
Britain's most senior EU official resigns
Britain’s most senior EU official, Jonathan Hill, is resigning following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.
The Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin reports that Lord Hill was sent to Brussels by David Cameron and took the highly-prized portfolio of financial services.
But his departure after Brexit was a foregone conclusion, as many European politicians oppose a Briton presiding over EU financial stability, when the UK is on the way out. Several MEPs have already called on Hill to go.
Hill, said he didn’t think it was right to carry on as commissioner as if nothing had happened.
I came to Brussels as someone who had campaigned against Britain joining the euro and who was sceptical about Europe.
I will leave it certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy. But what is done cannot be undone and now we have to get on with making our new relationship with Europe work as well as possible.
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France wants new UK prime minister 'in coming days'
France has called for new British prime minister ‘in the coming days’, according to reports by the AFP press agency.
The Guardian’s Angelique Chrisafis says:
The French government had always been expected to take a hard line on the UK’s timeframe over negotiations to leave.
France is among countries wishing for article 50 to be enacted as soon as is feasible. But in Paris there had also been an understanding that the British process to appoint a new prime minister would take a certain amount of time and that the British democratic and political party process had to be respected.
However, the mood in Paris is that once a new prime minister was in place, that new prime minister would have to act swiftly to begin the process.
There is a sense that no stalling or delaying tactics could be tolerated once a new prime minister was in place.
Updated
The speech by Jeremy Corbyn in London has finished, and he’s still leader of the Labour party, despite the earlier rumours that he would resign. Asked if he would stand again in the event of a leadership contest, he responded: “Yes, I am here. Thank you.”
The Observer’s Dan Boffey also reports that a Labour supporter in the audience said that as a black woman she feels safer with Corbyn as leader. She questioned whether others in the Labour party understood that.
Corbyn responded by saying he can’t answer ‘to what is going through the minds of those who want another change in the leadership of the Labour Party’.
Updated
Scotland to enter into "immediate discussions" with Brussels - Sturgeon
The Scottish government will seek to enter into “immediate discussions” with Brussels to “protect Scotland’s place in the EU” in the wake of the Brexit vote, Scotland’s first minister also says.
As a takeaway, that’s likely to trump Sturgeon’s comments about the preparations for a second independence referendum, which may be some time away.
Sturgeon said:
Cabinet agreed that we will seek to enter into immediate discussions with the EU institutions and other EU member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland’s place in the EU.
Over the next few days I will establish an advisory panel comprising a range of experts who can advise me and the Scottish government on a number of important matters – legal, financial and diplomatic.
Updated
Sturgeon says that most of the meeting’s discussions focused on what the Scottish government can do “in the here and now” to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU.
As a result, she will be establishing a panel of experts from across Scotland to advise on a range of areas – legal, economic and diplomatic. She and the Scottish government want to continue to emphasise that Scotland is an attractive place to do business and will reaching out to the business community.
Thirdly, she wants to work to reassure citizens of EU states who are living in Scotland in the wake of the Brexit vote.
As part of this, he will invite the consul generals of all EU states to a summit in Bute house to make clear how much Scotland values their contribution to Scottish society, its economy and its culture.
Ms Sturgeon stresses that other EU citizens who "have done us the honour of making this their home" are welcome in Scotland
— Philip Sim (@BBCPhilipSim) June 25, 2016
Sturgeon plays up pro-indy contrast: "As Westminster is engulfed in political turmoil... Scotland is led by a stable & effective government"
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) June 25, 2016
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Sturgeon - legislation for a second independence referendum to be put in place
Steps will now be taken to ensure that the necessary legislation will be put in place for a second Scottish independence referendum, Scotland’s first minister has said.
[We’re just breaking away from the Corbyn speech as Sturgeon has emerged from the cabinet meeting of the Scottish government in Edinburgh].
The meeting formally agreed that this work should proceed, Sturgeon tells the press outside Bute House.
One thing she doesn’t do in the short address is guarantee that the second referendum will now take place, but there’s more.
Updated
Corbyn makes the one and only mention of his leadership - he’s certainly not resigning now by the looks of it – saying he was elected to be leader on a platform that included a mandate to campaign on the “issue of our times”, the gap between the richest and the poorest.
Those expectations of a resignations are off the mark by the looks of it.
Updated
It was clear that Thursday’s vote was a backlash against the free movement of people, Corbyn says, but there was no single offer from the leave side.
“In fact, there was no manifesto of what a post-Brexit UK Britain would look like.”
The whole country has to come together to discuss issues “calmly and rationally” and Labour should lead it. He mentions Andy Burnham’s role in this and how the Labour MP Keir Starmer is currently travelling around the UK taking soundings from members of the party.
But it’s also important to talk about much more – employment and human rights, the UK’s economic relationship with Europe among them.
Updated
The Labour leader moves on to speak specifically about the issue of immigration – saying it is one “we can’t duck”.
“We have to start an open and honest debate,” he says, adding that it is clear from discussions he and others have had on the streets is that immigration played a central role in the campaign.
He says that he is certainly not afraid to talk about immigration and believes it has enriched the country (applause from supporters present) but he understands that rapid changes can place strains on communities.
Updated
Corbyn says that the referendum revealed a very divided Britain – between London, Scotland and and other areas who voted to remain and those areas who voted to leave.
But there is another divide – “between thriving multicultural cities and often post-industrial communities who voted to leave”.
Updated
Many former industrial heartlands voted to leave the European Union, he says. These are communities who have been hit hard by deregulation and the shifting economic landscape.
“A Sports Direct factory on a site of a former mine says it all about what has happened to Britain,” he says, going on to hit out at the “nasty form of divisive” form of politics that have emerged.
Updated
Corbyn says that it will be necessary to forge new international alliances after the vote.
He spent much time after the referendum vote speaking to contacts in other states, including leaders of socialist parties.
Jeremy Corbyn begins speech in central London
Corbyn has taken the podium now and begins by thanking Malhotra for what she said about the need for bringing cohesion to British society. Many people have told the party how frightened they are and it’s important to ensure cohesion.
After Thursday’s referendum, he says we are now in a world where there will be at least two years of discussions about the UK’s membership of the EU.
It’s important to ensure that the Conservatives do not run roughshod over regulations and laws designed to protect the environment, among other issues.
Updated
The Labour frontbencher, Seema Malhotra, is speaking just ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s speech in central London today.
The unshared prosperity, she adds, has been an important driver for how people felt about membership of the EU. But there are other concerns too around community cohesion.
She reads out a message from a teacher in her constituency who spoke of an incident that occurred after the referendum result. The teacher was escorting a group of young children when they were racially abused by members of the public.
They shouted: “Why are there only 10 white faces in this class? Why are you not educating the English?
Children aged six were crying and saying that they were going to have to leave the country, according to the teacher. Malhotra says that people are in need of reassurance.
Daniel Boffey, policy editor at the Observer, says that the room hosting Corbyn’s speech at the Maxwell library on London’s embankment is packed.
Corbyn arrived giving a thumbs-up to the crowd who offer a few whoops in response.
Updated
We’re also waiting for Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to emerge from a cabinet meeting by the Scottish government in Edinburgh.
It comes after she said she believed a second referendum on independence was highly likely after Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain within the EU.
The emergency session at Sturgeon’s official residence in Bute House had been expected to agree plans to put forward referendum legislation in September’s programme for government.
Updated
Here’s the poster that would have been used to promote Jeremy Corbyn’s (now cancelled) appearance at Glastonbury
Check out poster that would have gone out if @jeremycorbyn had made it to Glasto pic.twitter.com/KV0UzKR8FX
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) June 25, 2016
We’re waiting for a speech by the Labour leader to get under way shortly in central London. The Guardian’s Heather Stewart is there for us.
Updated
Petition for second referendum reaches one million signatures
A parliamentary petition calling for a second referendum has attracted more than 1m signatures. The figure is 10 times the number needed for the issue to be raised in parliament.
Set up by William Oliver Healey, it states: “We the undersigned call upon HM government to implement a rule that if the remain or leave vote is less than 60% based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum.”
Updated
Referendum voters divided on age, wealth and education lines - survey
Sharp divisions along the lines of age, wealth and education among those who voted in Thursday’s referendum have been revealed in polling by the Conservative peer Michael Ashcroft.
The deep differences between the pro and anti-Brexit camps include:
- While 73% of voters under 25 wanted to stay in the EU, 60% of over-65s opted to leave. Remain was the preferred stance of 62% of 25- to 34-year-olds, narrowing to 52% in the 35 to 44 range, but leave took a majority among 45- to 54-year-olds with 56% backing, expanding to 57% in the 55 to 64 bracket.
- While remain won the backing of 57% of the top-earning AB social group, leave was supported by 64% of C2DEs. A clear majority of university-educated voters went for remain. Most people whose education ended at secondary school level or earlier supported Brexit.
- Among private renters and those with mortgages, a majority (55% and 54%) voted to remain. Those who owned homes outright voted to leave by 55% to 45%. Around two-thirds of council and housing association tenants voted to leave.
- White voters split 53% to 47% in favour of withdrawal, while 67% of Asians and 73% of black people opted for remain.
- Religious divides were also highlighted with 58% of those describing themselves as Christian voting for Brexit, while 70% of Muslims wanted to stay in the EU.
The full results, based on a survey of 12,369 people on referendum day, are here.
Updated
Homebuyers spooked by the UK’s decision to leave the EU are pulling out of deals or attempting to renegotiate prices, according to property professionals, as the housing market suffers Brexit vote aftershocks.
One property developer in central London, which had offered a “Brexit clause” allowing nervous buyers to pull out of deals in the event of a leave vote, said it was allowing buyers to withdraw and keep their deposits.
David Humbles, the managing director of the luxury Two Fifty One development, said:
We can confirm that a few purchasers have decided not to proceed given the uncertainty of the market. However, the majority are continuing with their purchase and the marketing strategy to offer the pledge at the launch was a worthwhile exercise.
We have a story on it developments here
Updated
Hopefully, those European diplomats taking part in today’s crucial talks about the future of the EU and Britain’s relationship with hit are operating without a hangover. We missed this tweet last night from the German foreign office
We are off now to an Irish pub to get decently drunk. And from tomorrow on we will again work for a better #Europe! Promised! #EURef 🇪🇺
— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) June 24, 2016
Updated
Leading leave campaigners are coming under fire after appearing to row back on key pledges made during the EU referendum campaign, less than 24 hours after the UK voted for Brexit.
The latest focus is on immigration after the Tory MEP Daniel Hannan told the BBC: “Frankly, if people watching think that they have voted and there is now going to be zero immigration from the EU, they are going to be disappointed.”
Here’s some reaction to that:
Daniel Hannan has the most bare faced cheek I've seen in a politician: he knew before Thursday how his imigration promise was being heard
— ianpatterson99 (@ianpatterson99) June 25, 2016
With Nigel Farage dismissing Leave's NHS pledge and Dan Hannan saying immigration won't fall, Britain realises it's voted for bendy bananas.
— HaveIGotNewsForYou (@haveigotnews) June 24, 2016
Within hours of the result on Friday morning, the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, had distanced himself from the claim that £350m of EU contributions could instead be spent on the NHS.
On another front, Liam Fox has cast doubt on the necessity of triggering the article 50 clause of the Lisbon treaty that sets out the legal process for a country’s EU withdrawal.
“A lot of things were said in advance of this referendum that we might want to think about again and that [invoking article 50] is one of them,” said the Conservative MP.
Updated
Aides close to Jeremy Corbyn deny that he is on the verge of resigning in a speech that the Labour party leader is due to give in just under an hour.
But not everyone is convinced. Isabel Hardman of the Spectator says in a blog that rumours have been sweeping the party overnight that Corbyn will use the event to step down and hand over the reins to John McDonnell, “who has been on manoeuvres for months”.
She adds:
There must be recognition in the Corbyn team that the situation is pretty precarious.
The lengthy shadow cabinet meeting yesterday wasn’t as furious as some other parts of the parliamentary Labour party might have hoped, but some members are discussing resigning en masse to trigger a change at the top of the party.
‘The trouble is, we’re all a bit worried that just one of us will go, look over our shoulder and then see that no one is charging with us,’ says one shadow secretary of state.
George Eaton of the New Statesman tweets:
Labour MPs tell me of rumours that Corbyn will announce that he's standing down in speech. But ally says "utter bollocks".
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) June 25, 2016
The pressure continues on the Labour leader, however. Ann Coffey, a Labour MP who is backing a no confidence motion in him, told the BBC a little earlier:
The result of the referendum was a disastrous result for us and the leadership must bear a share of the responsibility for that. It was a lacklustre campaign, it didn’t contain a strong enough message and the leader himself appeared half-hearted about it.
Updated
Don’t adjust your screen now. Here’s Ian Paisley Jr, son of the founder of the Democratic Unionist party, advising his constituents and others to take up the opportunity of securing an Irish passport.
My advice is if you are entitled to second passport then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents https://t.co/oWoiVIFF8A
— Ian Paisley (@ianpaisleymp) June 24, 2016
Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast Agreement – sometimes known as the Good Friday Agreement – anyone born in Northern Ireland has the right to be citizens of both the UK and Ireland.
In the wake of the Brexit vote, which was supported by a minority of Northern Ireland voters, there have been reports of a small surge in the number of people there applying for Irish passports, including in areas with a high number of unionist voters.
What would Ian Paisley senior, who died in September 2014, make of the post-referendum landscape?
You can read more here about the uncertainty in Northern Ireland following the result:
Updated
EU diplomat meets for emergency talks over Brexit
Diplomats from the European Union’s six founding member states are meeting for emergency talks in Berlin as Europe’s governments and institutions scrambled to respond to Britain’s momentous decision to leave the bloc.
The foreign ministers of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg were convened by their German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who warned it was vital that the bloc see the shock Brexit vote, by 52%-48%, as a wakeup call.
EU politicians must listen “to the expectations of the European governments, but also to the expectations of the people”, Steinmeier said, but cautioned against rash decisions.
“It’s totally clear that in times like these one should neither be hysterical, nor fall into paralysis,” he said as the talks began.
Read on here:
Updated
The vote to leave the European Union has “destroyed” five years of work by the coalition government, according to the wife of former deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg.
Miriam Gonzalez Durante said she was frustrated by the referendum result, which she believes will have far-reaching consequences for the economy and legal system.
Gonzalez Durantez, a partner at the law firm Dechert, told the BBC:
It’s a decision that has made me deeply sad really, I feel deeply sad that this country is no more part of the European Union family. Very worried, worried about the economic consequences of it that we have already started to see.
Worried about the enormous legal instability and uncertainty that it creates towards the future and at a personal level also quite a lot of frustration to see that all the work that had gone into the country for the last five years and the personal effort, and political cost also, has gone overnight – in almost 12 months all destroyed.
And above everything else very worried about the fact that this looks now like a country with very deep divisions with communities that do not seem to be able right now to dream of a common future so I think that for me is one of the first priorities.”
Gonzalez Durantez was a staunch remain supporter alongside her husband, who resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats after the party was soundly beaten at the general election last year.
Updated
City of London may lose 'passport' - ECB council member
The City of London is at risk of losing its prized “EU passport”, according to a European Central Bank governing council member, who added that Brexit talks must be carried out quickly to limit uncertainties.
The City of London will not be able to keep that passport if Britain leaves the EU’s single market of trade in goods and services, François Villeroy de Galhau told France Inter radio.
“There is a precedent. it is the Norwegian model of European Economic Area, that would allow Britain to keep access to the single market but by committing to implement all EU rules,” he said. “It would be a bit paradoxical to leave the EU and apply all EU rules but that is one solution if Britain wants to keep access to the single market.”
The passport system has helped give access to the EU’s vast market to non-EU banks working from the City of London. The UK accounts for more than 2m of the EU’s 11m financial services jobs, according to lobby group TheCityUK.
The financial sector is a significant part of Britain’s economy and big contributor to tax receipts. Financial services account for about 12% of GDP – more than manufacturing.
But there are fears big investment banks that have made London their European base could now relocate to cities such as Dublin and Frankfurt.
Updated
I’m handing over the live blog to my colleague Ben Quinn now. Stick with us: it’s a busy Saturday.
Thanks for reading and for all your comments so far.
Updated
The petition calling on parliament to trigger a second referendum – arguing that the rules should be changed to require 60% of the vote for victory – has now topped 800,000 signatures.
The 100,000-signature mark ensured it would be considered for a debate in the House of Commons – although it’s not a foregone conclusion that it would be approved for debate, and is an even more remote prospect that it would win Commons support.
Not remotely coincidentally, the map of petition-signers shows a big concentration in London, where voters opted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU.
Just out of interest, the gap between leave and remain in the referendum was 1,269,501 votes.
Updated
Further to that mini round-up of Labour MPs writing about the aftermath of Brexit, here’s a column in the Guardian from John Mann, who backed leave. He says the result is a wakeup call for his party:
The Labour party in Westminster struggled to reflect the language and aspirations of our traditional working-class communities. These Labour voters, aware of the long-term neglect of their voice and their aspirations, decided the result of the referendum.
It should be no surprise to anyone that they chose to comfortably ignore the Labour call to vote remain.
The national campaign washed over their heads. Instead they discussed and decided their views in the workplace, in the community and at home. With an extraordinary consensus, working-class Britain voted to leave.
Updated
The hurriedly convened meeting in Berlin today brings together the foreign ministers from the European Union’s original six founding nations: Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg.
The meeting was called by German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said EU politicians needed to heed “the expectations of the European governments but also to the expectations of the people”.
On the issue of whether the UK ought to be working its way out of the EU swiftly, Steinmeier said:
It’s totally clear that in times like these one should neither be hysterical nor fall into paralysis.
Updated
As the Tory party scrambles to get its potential new leaders in place – see the frontrunners here – Labour is also doing some soul-searching about the Brexit result. Jeremy Corbyn will make a speech later today; we’ll cover it on the live blog.
Yvette Cooper writes in the Mirror this morning that it’s time to “roll up our sleeves and pull our country together”:
Let’s be honest, Labour needs to get its act together too. We’ve always believed in international cooperation, but we didn’t convince people in our industrial towns or coalfield communities that there would be a better future staying in Europe, nor were Labour’s answers on immigration convincing. That’s why so many people voted out.
I’ve long called for sensible immigration reform. And that’s what we should be setting out in a calm and serious way. It’s not enough for Labour to be a party for the big cities – now, more than ever, the Labour leadership needs to speak for the whole country.
Chuka Umunna writes in the i that Labour leadership – he doesn’t mention Corbyn by name, but come on: he means Corbyn – “was sadly lacking” during the referendum campaign:
Our main striker often wasn’t on the pitch, and when he was, he failed to put the ball into the net.
And he says Labour has a responsibility to hold the Brexiters to the promises they made:
It will be the constitutional duty of the opposition to hold the new prime minister’s feet to the fire on all these commitments and hold them to account for their delivery. In truth, the manifesto of the winning candidate of the forthcoming Tory leadership contest has, in effect, already been written by the Vote Leave campaign. To some extent, it has been co-authored by Ukip, many of whose arguments Vote Leave ended up echoing.
Updated
No change to Le Touquet accord, France says
France’s deal with Britain that keeps border checks – and thousands of refugees and migrants – on the French side of the Channel will not change because of the Brexit vote, the French government has said.
Under a bilateral treaty signed in 2003 known as the Le Touquet accord, British officials can check passports in France and vice versa. This means the English border is effectively pushed back to France, and thousands of migrants and refugees trying to reach Britain remain stuck in a no-man’s land at makeshift camps in Calais and on France’s northern coast.
After the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, some French politicians on the right called for a renegotiation of the accord in order to push the border back to the English coast.
Natacha Bouchart, the right’s mayor of Calais, told French broadcaster BFM TV: “The British must take on the consequences of their choice.” She said France would be in “a strong position” after the Brexit vote to review the accord.
Xavier Bertrand, the right’s leader of the Hauts-de-France region, which includes Calais, tweeted: “The English wanted to take back their freedom, they must take back their border.”
But the French government dismissed any change to the border deal with Britain. Because the Le Touquet accord is between France and Britain directly and not linked to the European Union, there is no automatic need to renegotiate the deal.
“On the question of immigration, to be clear, British exit from the European Union will not lead to changes in terms of immigration treaties with United Kingdom … These are bilateral treaties,” said the government spokesman and agriculture minister Stephane Le Foll.
The French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault dismissed outright any calls for renegotiation of the Le Touquet accord. “Would that also mean putting in place boats for people who otherwise risk drowning? I think we should be serious,” he said in a TV interview.
Ayrault said other bilateral immigration treaties would also remain in place. He said additional important agreements between France and Britain, such as the 2010 Lancaster House defence and security treaties, would also be maintained.
Jeremy Corbyn has cancelled a planned appearance at the Glastonbury festival today and will make a speech in London instead.
Labour MP Frank Field this morning said his party leader should use the speech to announce his departure.
But Corbyn told Channel 4 News last night that he would not be resigning:
No, I’m carrying on.
I’m making the case for unity, I’m making the case of what Labour can offer to Britain, of decent housing for people, of good secure jobs for people, of trade with Europe and of course with other parts of the world. Because if we don’t get the trade issue right we’ve got a real problem in this country.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge yesterday submitted a no-confidence motion against Corbyn, asking for it to be discussed at the next meeting of the parliamentary Labour party on Monday, with a vote the following day.
Free movement of Labour may not end - Brexit MEP
The appearance of pro-Brexit Tory MEP Daniel Hannan on BBC’s Newsnight on Friday night is causing some indignation.
After Nigel Farage’s admission on Friday morning that the official Leave campaign claim that it could spend money recouped from Europe on the NHS was “a mistake”, Hannan told the BBC that Brexit would not necessarily end free movement of Labour. Newsnight presenter Evan Davis was a bit taken aback, given the core immigration message of the leave campaign:
.@evanHD isn't happy with this potential change of tone on freedom of movement...#brexit #newsnight https://t.co/VKnfMz70ke
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) June 24, 2016
Hannan later professed surprise at the reaction but was greeted with similar scepticism by ITV News’ Europe editor, James Mates:
@DanHannanMEP I suspect they may be raging at you cos yr Leave campaign clearly said it did. Was there a false prospectus being offered?
— James Mates (@jamesmatesitv) June 24, 2016
Updated
Anti-Brexit protests
Hundreds of people took part in protests on Friday evening in Scotland – where 62% of voters wanted to remain in the EU – Press Association reports:
Demonstrators took to the streets of Edinburgh and Glasgow to show their support for migrants and protest against the “torrent of racism” they say was “unleashed” during the referendum campaign.
In Edinburgh, protesters gathered outside the Scottish parliament, where a number of speakers addressed the crowds. A similar demonstration took place in Glasgow’s George Square.
The demonstration – reportedly organised by National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts Scotland, Scotland Against Criminalising Communities and Scottish Labour Young Socialists – took place just hours after first minister Nicola Sturgeon said a second vote on Scottish independence is “highly likely”.
One protester, Tara Berserker, said she favoured a second referendum on independence:
I was for independence the first time around and quite a few of my friends voted against it because they were afraid Scotland would be kicked out of the EU. Now we’re not EU any more, so the only way is for Scotland to be independent.
A group of young people also demonstrated outside the gates of Downing Street on Friday, saying they felt they had been “robbed” of their futures.
Paddy Baker, 21, told Press Association:
This vote was too close to go through. Older people voted for this, but we are the ones who are going to feel the ramifications. I am going to feel the ramifications for the rest of my life.
It was a real shame that the 16 and 17-year-olds were not allowed to vote, as they were in the Scottish referendum.
UK front pages
The Guardian
Tomorrow's Guardian pic.twitter.com/Si8XN43c1q
— Clare Margetson (@claremargetson) June 24, 2016
The Times
THE TIMES: Brexit earthquake #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/fnO0JT9Zf7
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The Telegraph
TELEGRAPH: Birth of a new Britain #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/FHi5zgxEBX
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The National
After the madness of the EU vote ...are we ready for indyref2. Hell, yes. Last front page of a tumultuous week pic.twitter.com/wfdbmu9hEn
— The National (@ScotNational) June 24, 2016
The Express
DAILY EXPRESS: We're out of the EU #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/uo1QEPtckm
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The Daily Mirror
Tomorrow's front page: So what the hell happens now? #tomorrowspaperstoday #EURefResults https://t.co/YsDSms51bC pic.twitter.com/ecVZf1lM17
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) June 24, 2016
The Sun
SUN EXCLUSIVE: Why should I do the hard s**t? #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/HW4vmOjGoU
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The Daily Mail
DAILY MAIL HISTORIC EDITION: Take a bow, Britain! #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/VpurBk5KXo
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The Scottish Daily Mail
SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL: Disunited Kingdom #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/ZVm2nyxdyh
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
World front pages
The New Yorker
(With its own independence day publication date…)
An early look at next week's cover, “Silly Walk Off a Cliff,” by Barry Blitt: https://t.co/brZjcbpbbZ pic.twitter.com/LJ1kZjABpg
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) June 24, 2016
Libération
A la une de @libe ce week-end : «Good luck»https://t.co/BPDFO3GN03 pic.twitter.com/fDEMEFfPZK
— Libération (@libe) June 24, 2016
Der Spiegel
Im neuen #SPIEGEL: Welche Folgen hat der #Brexit für Europa? Download hier https://t.co/IHtP9VNc7O, morgen am Kiosk. pic.twitter.com/mJ0bNtQNGp
— DER SPIEGEL (@DerSPIEGEL) June 24, 2016
Bild
BILD: OUTsch! #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/BSGNu8LakF
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The International New York Times
INT NEW YORK TIMES: Britain stuns world with EU exit vote #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/SkrI5jRmfL
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) June 24, 2016
The Australian
8pages of #Brexit coverage, analysis; ALP groundswell not enough to win #ausvotes all in bumper weekend @australian pic.twitter.com/EKoUH9OrAy
— michelle gunn (@michellelgunn) June 24, 2016
“OUTsch” read the front-page headline on Germany’s mass-market tabloid Bild:
We had hope until the end. All in vain. Brexit is coming. In Britain Germany is losing one of its most important partners in the EU. Europe, already shaken by one crises after another, now has a new catastrophe. The continent is looking ahead to months, maybe years of uncertainty.
On a more cheerful note, the tabloid also ran a satirical “Brefugees welcome” campaign, inviting British emigres to Germany:
Brit happens? Luckily there is German welcoming culture. You can be sure of one thing: if you are leaving your island because of Brexit, your adorably eccentric nature will guarantee you a welcoming home in Germany.
Frank Field says Corbyn should resign
Labour MP Frank Field has been on the Today programme. He is a leave campaigner and wants to talk about what the Brexit result means. But he also thinks his party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, should step down.
He says Corbyn has some good messages but he
packages this with serious claptrap.
The Trident policy is an example, Field says. He goes on:
He clearly isn’t the right person to actually lead the party into the next election. Nobody thinks he will actually win.
Field says he would “very much like him” to announce his resignation in a speech the Labour leader is making today.
Pressed on who should take over, should Corbyn be ousted, Field says:
I actually can’t give you the answer to that.
Our activist base was changed … [they] are very clearly in favour of someone like Jeremy.
We don’t want the same old claptrap from the Blairites either.
He says Labour needs “someone the public think of as an alternative prime minister”.
What is article 50?
This might be a helpful thing to know over the coming hours/days/weeks/months/years. (Please not years.)
Article 50 is the clause in the Lisbon Treaty that sets out the legal process for any country notifying the European Union that it intends to withdraw.
Once notification is given, negotiations must be concluded within two years. Any extension to that timetable would require the agreement of all EU members.
David Cameron, announcing that he will resign by October, has said he will not trigger article 50 but will leave it in the hands of his successor.
Once the button is pushed, the two-year countdown starts. During this time, the UK remains a member of the EU.
When the two years are up, if agreements are not concluded – and if the rest of the EU doesn’t grant an extension – Britain must revert to world trade organisation terms. Which means tariffs will be imposed.
Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the leaders of the leavers, agree that there is no need to press go on article 50 right away. Jeremy Corbyn yesterday said it ought to happen right away.
But the presidents of the European council and commission, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, said the EU would expect Britain to act “as soon as possible, however painful the process may be”.
Morning briefing
Hello and welcome to the morning after the day before.
After a seismic Friday – and with the dust far from settling – we’ll be liveblogging our way through the weekend to capture all the developments, the fallouts and the what-happens-next questions.
Do come and chat in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.
The big picture
Or rather, the big question: what happens next? For a thorough overview of the next steps, and who decides what, this walkthrough by the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour is a must-read.
And immediately? European Union leaders are saying Britain should get a move on; Brexiteers Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are saying there’s really no rush; and David Cameron has said he won’t trigger article 50 of the Lisbon treaty (which starts that two-year clock ticking) but will leave that to his successor. Whoever that might be.
The vote to leave the EU sent the pound to its lowest level since 1985 on Friday and at one point wiped £120bn off the value of Britain’s leading shares. Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s warned that Britain’s AAA credit rating was at risk, and Moody’s cut its outlook on the UK’s long-term debt from stable to negative. Estimates on Friday night said Brexit had wiped out over $2tn of value on markets worldwide.
The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, said the announcement by Cameron that the big red button on article 50 would not be pushed until a new prime minister was in place “must not be the last word”:
A whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party. I doubt it is only in the hands of the government of the United Kingdom. We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word.
The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, agreed:
It doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure. I would like to get started immediately.
Today, foreign ministers from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg will meet in Berlin at the invitation of their German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to take part in an emergency chinwag. And Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister who wrote passionately in the Guardian for Britain to stay in the EU, flies to Paris today to discuss the fallout with French president François Hollande.
The diplomatic flurry comes ahead of Monday’s meeting in Berlin between German chancellor Angela Merkel, Hollande and Renzi, along with European council president, Donald Tusk. The 28 EU commissioners – including the UK commissioner, Jonathan Hill – are expected to meet in Brussels on Monday.
Tuesday brings David Cameron – now Britain’s outgoing prime minister – to Brussels for a two-day summit with EU leaders. Which won’t be too awkward, I’m sure.
The Scottish cabinet also holds an emergency gathering this morning in Edinburgh, after first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would “explore all options” following the result in Scotland, where every authority voted to remain in the EU.
Sturgeon said on Friday that a second independence referendum was now “highly likely” and this morning’s meeting – expect a statement later – might be the first step towards that, despite opposition from some including Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who said it was “not in the best interests of Scotland”.
Hundreds of people protested in Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday evening, as Scotland looked to be (like the rest of the UK) on the brink of leaving the EU, despite voting (unlike most of the rest of the UK) in favour of staying by 62% to 38%.
You should also know:
- Senior figures in the remain campaign say they were ‘hobbled’ by No 10.
- Boris Johnson is favourite to replace David Cameron as prime minister.
- Jeremy Corbyn faces a no-confidence motion from Labour MPs.
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The Brexit vote has sparked a scramble for European – especially Irish – passports.
- Mayor Sadiq Khan will tell EU citizens at today’s Pride march: you are welcome in London.
- HBO says filming of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland won’t be jeopardised by the Brexit vote.
Poll position
If you don’t know the result by now, well, you’re still very welcome here. But we’ll move on. A petition to parliament to trigger a second referendum – arguing that the rules should be changed to require 60% of the vote for victory – has busted through 500,000 signatures. That means it will now be considered for a debate in the Commons. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say we won’t be having another EU referendum any time soon.
A separate Change.org petition to mayor Sadiq Khan to declare independence for London – which voted resoundingly to stay in the EU – has passed 100,000 signatures. And there’s even a hashtag, #londependence, so you should definitely take it seriously.
Diary
- Foreign ministers of the six founding EU members, including Germany’s Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meet in Berlin.
- The Scottish cabinet meets in Edinburgh this morning.
- David Cameron is due to appear for Armed Forces Day in Cleethorpes.
- Jeremy Corbyn has cancelled a planned appearance at Glastonbury and will instead give a speech in London this morning.
- This afternoon French president François Hollande meets French party leaders to discuss Brexit, including a rare invitation to the Elysée for Front National’s Marine Le Pen.
- Italian PM Matteo Renzi visits Paris this evening.
Read these: on Brexit
This is dipping barely a tip of a toenail into the pool of stories out there today, but here’s a selection.
John Cassidy in the New Yorker examines why the remainers failed to carry off a win:
Looking ahead, the fate of the Remain campaign should serve as a reminder of the limits of negative campaigning – a reminder that Hillary Clinton would do well to take note of as she goes up against Donald Trump. In confronting populist demagoguery, it isn’t enough to attack its promulgators. To get people to turn out and vote in your favour, you also have to give them something positive to rally behind.
The Leave campaign, for all its lies and disinformation, provided just such a lure. It claimed that liberating Britain from the shackles of the EU would enable it to reclaim its former glory. The Remain side argued, in effect, that while the EU isn’t great, Britain would be even worse off without it. That turned out to be a losing story.
Janice Turner in the Times writes about the voters who wanted out – and says more people should have been doing so before today:
Free movement suits big business, which benefits from cheap, limitless labour; it suits a young, educated cosmopolitan workforce; it suits our now-stymied children who long to study abroad; it suits me. But try selling it in poor provincial towns to people who may not even have a passport; those who feel no benefits from this shiny fast-flowing global world; who are lectured by all parties about the GDP benefits of migration while their own wages are undercut.
That towns with the fewest migrants fear immigration most is always seen as a measure of working-class stupidity. But in a diverse city, migrants are just a few extra pixels in the frame; in a small town they are a distinct event, a challenge to a fragile identity. And identity – as we have seen – is not a phantasm but a banner that people are prepared to risk economic destruction to protect.
On which theme, do take a moment for John Harris’ excellent read: “If you’ve got money, you vote in … if you haven’t got money, you vote out.”
Spectator editor Fraser Nelson writes in the Wall Street Journal that Brexit is “a very British revolution”:
The Brexit battle lines ought to be familiar: they are similar to the socioeconomic battles being fought throughout so many Western democracies. It is the jet-set graduates versus the working class, the metropolitans versus the bumpkins—and, above all, the winners of globalisation against its losers. Politicians, ever obsessed about the future, can tend to regard those left unprotected in our increasingly interconnected age as artifacts of the past. In fact, the losers of globalisation are, by definition, as new as globalisation itself.
To see such worries as resurgent nationalism is to oversimplify. The nation-state is a social construct: Done properly, it is the glue that binds society together. In Europe, the losers of globalisation are seeking the protection of their nation-states, not a remote and unresponsive European superstate. They see the economy developing in ways that aren’t to their advantage and look to their governments to lend a helping hand – or at least attempt to control immigration. No EU country can honestly claim to control European immigration, and there is no prospect of this changing: These are the facts that led to Brexit.
Read these: on David Cameron
It’s a funny day when the resignation of a prime minister isn’t your first headline, but these are indeed funny days.
Jordan Weissmann in Slate says Cameron will go down as one of Britain’s worst prime ministers:
Theoretically, Britain does not have to go through with this idiocy. The referendum is not legally binding. David Cameron doesn’t have to push his country off a cliff, just because voters thought it might be fun. But he seems determined to do so anyway.
Whereas William Hague in the Telegraph says he’ll be remembered as one of the greats:
Resented by some for his success, as well as for his changes to his party and his ability to make his work seem effortless, he will now be extremely difficult to replace … The result is that the United Kingdom has lost a remarkable and successful prime minister. He is a sufficiently well balanced man that we do not need to worry for him. But we do need to worry about who can combine such qualities and command such success in an even tougher decade to come.
Away from the polarising assessments, this Guardian report shows how the prime minister’s night unfolded as victory seemed first attainable, and then impossible:
Cameron was intending to announce a ‘life chances’ strategy in the coming days in an attempt to cement a legacy as a moderniser, not as a leader known for dividing his party and the country over Europe …
Cameron, who had grabbed a couple of hours of sleep by breakfast time, is understood to have taken the bad news for remain in a pragmatic way. He was ready for the prospect of resigning and one source said he did not speak to Gove or to Johnson before taking the decision to step down.
Baffling claim of the day
Courtesy of Ken Livingstone – once again unable to resist an intervention – who gifted us this terribly unsettling image of the campaign:
It was like the whole of the media was obsessed by this sort of struggle between Cameron and Johnson as they gnawed away at each other’s testicles.
The day in a tweet
Look what's number three right now... pic.twitter.com/anddyG2KnM
— Rhiannon Bury (@RhiannonBury) June 24, 2016
If today were a film ...
It would be The Hangover.
And another thing
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