By Michael Sercan Daventry
LONDON
Less than 100 hours have elapsed since the U.K. voted for Brexit and the country looks unrecognizable.
In the last days, one major party leader resigned and another faced a vote of no confidence. The pound sterling plunged to levels not seen since the mid-1980s. Police reported a surge in race-related attacks. Even the territorial integrity of the United Kingdom had been brought into question.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation was perhaps the least surprising development since Thursday’s referendum generated a 52-48 vote to leave the European Union.
He had staked his personal credibility on a vote to remain and few believed he could keep his position if the opposite side prevailed.
But there was to be no immediate departure: Cameron said he would remain in his post over the summer until his Conservative Party elected a successor.
“I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination,” Cameron said, his voice cracking with emotion, shortly after the result was declared on Friday morning.
Nominations for his replacement will open for 24 hours on Wednesday afternoon. Former London mayor Boris Johnson and Theresa May, the Home Secretary, are both expected to put themselves forward.
Other less prominent figures, such as Education Secretary Nicky Morgan and Work & Pensions Secretary Stephen Crabb, are also rumored to be interested in taking part in the first race to elect a Conservative leader since 2005.
Corbyn clings on
But as the governing Conservatives set in motion an orderly handover of the leadership, a turf war broke out in the opposition Labour Party.
Leader Jeremy Corbyn came under intense pressure from critics within his own party over perceptions that he – a known Eurosceptic – had only half-heartedly campaigned for a vote to Remain in the EU.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, his foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn told him in a phone call that he had lost confidence in Corbyn’s leadership. Benn was promptly sacked. By Monday evening, 23 of the 31 members of the shadow cabinet team had resigned in solidarity, demanding Corbyn’s own departure as leader.
Labour lawmakers were due to hold a secret ballot of no confidence in Corbyn on Tuesday morning, with a challenge to his leadership to follow.
Economic troubles
A key theme of the failed Remain campaign had been the potential impact of Brexit on the U.K. economy. The first two business days since the result showed the warnings were not misplaced: London’s main share index and Britain’s currency both plummeted within minutes of the referendum result becoming apparent.
And despite attempts by Bank of England chief Mark Carney and George Osborne, the finance minister, to reassure investors that a Brexit vote had been prepared for, the pound sterling reached lows against the U.S. dollar not seen since 1985.
Meanwhile trading in some bank stocks – including Barclays – were briefly suspended after their values dropped fast enough to trigger an automatic circuit breaker.
On Monday evening, it was the turn of credit agencies with grim news for the U.K. economy: Standard & Poor’s stripped Britain of its AAA rating while Fitch downgraded it to AA with a negative outlook.
Racism and xenophobia
While it will take several weeks to see the full economic effect upon the country, Brexit appeared to have an instant social impact.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council reported a spike in hate crime following a campaign charged with anti-immigrant sentiment. Nearly 60 percent more people reported being the victim of racial and xenophobic abuse in the four days following the referendum compared with the same period in the previous month.
One BBC reporter said she had been called a “Paki” in her home town for the first time since the 1980s, while dozens of Polish residents in the U.K. said they had been verbally and physically abused. A police source told the Guardian newspaper: “It’s no coincidence this has come off the back of the EU vote.”
Cameron told parliament on Monday: “In the past few days we have seen despicable graffiti daubed on a Polish community center; we've seen verbal abuse hurled against individuals because they are members of ethnic minorities.
“Let's remember these people have come here and made a wonderful contribution to our country. We will not stand for hate crime or these kinds of attacks, they must be stamped out.”
Hopes for separation
But Cameron – or his successor – will struggle to stamp out surging separatism. Scotland and Northern Ireland both backed EU membership in last week’s referendum but were outvoted by the more populous Wales and England.
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was “democratically unacceptable” for her country to be taken out of the EU against its will and said a fresh independence referendum was highly likely, less than two years since voters chose to remain part of the U.K.
Her devolved government will be represented in exit negotiations with the EU, with Sturgeon determined to keep her country within the bloc.
Brexit also has significant implications for Ireland, where a longstanding passport-free area between the island’s two jurisdictions has existed for decades but may have to be installed once the U.K. leaves the EU.
Irish republican leader Martin McGuinness said it was now a “democratic imperative” to hold a referendum on uniting Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. Cameron dismissed the call on Monday, but it will be one of many problems facing his successor.
