British exit of EU guesses

[Northwoods]

Leave now at 51.1%.

May not even be all that much of a squeaker. 

[Viking]

I'm excited here.

[Balog]

12.6m leave to 11.8m remain. 22 of 33 London districts reporting.

[Viking]

Nigel Farage, the Labour Party, BBC and ITV is calling it for "Leave" according to the Grauniad. The happening actually seems to be happening.

[Perd Hapley]

I voted yes, yes with riots, and fish & chips.

I suspect a YES vote will not end the issue, as the ruling class are not likely to give up a smidge of power just because the Brits want out.

That's what I've been wondering about.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/uk/david-cameron-no-second-referendum-if-uk-votes-for-brexit-1.2544465

https://constitution-unit.com/2016/01/19/what-happens-if-we-vote-for-brexit/

The implications of a vote to remain are easily predicted: the UK will stay in the EU, with whatever tweaks to our terms of membership David Cameron has negotiated.  But what happens in the event of a vote to leave?  That is much less obvious.  This post sets out the processes and probes their implications.

The legal framework

We might start with the EU Referendum Act, which received royal assent just before Christmas.  It sets out the referendum rules, so could be expected to define the effect of a vote either way.  Alas, it does not: it makes no provision as to the referendum’s legal effect.

That is because, strictly speaking, it has no legal effect.  It will be purely advisory and, in law, the government could simply ignore the result.  In this it contrasts with the legislation for the electoral system referendum in 2011, which required the minister responsible to enact the result.  But it is the same as the legislation underpinning the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 and, indeed, the referendum on membership of the Common Market in 1975.

Whatever the legal position, however, the political reality is that the government will have to respect the result.  If the vote is to leave the EU, the Prime Minister will announce that the UK will indeed leave.

But that departure will not happen immediately: first comes a period when the UK can negotiate its future relationship with the EU.  And here the process is regulated by law – specifically, by Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty.

[Perd Hapley]

http://twitchy.com/sd-3133/2016/06/23/lindsay-lohan-is-the-brexit-expert-brexpert-we-never-knew-we-needed/

[Viking]

"Leave" is now about 900k votes ahead of "Remain".

Edit to add: 51.7% for "Leave" at the moment.

[just Warren]

I'm assuming EU operatives are engaged in balloting hijinks yet Leave is still winning.

[Balog]

15.4m leave to 14.3m remain, 29 of 33 London authorities reporting. Interestingly London has been swinging more to leave than expected with over %40 for it.

[Viking]

And "Leave" is now 1.1 million ahead of "Remain". Will leftists and EU politicians be on suicide watch today?

[Perd Hapley]

Well, great. Now I have to listen to Conspiracy Cow-orker go on about why he can't figure out how "they" let the vote go that direction. 

[Ben]

Now not only do I have to stay up late to see the results, but I'm going to have to be up early looking for stock deals when the market panics tomorrow morning. 

[Northwoods]

Now not only do I have to stay up late to see the results, but I'm going to have to be up early looking for stock deals when the market panics tomorrow morning. 

Yesterday would have been a GREAT time to take a short position on the pound.

[Viking]

Now not only do I have to stay up late to see the results, but I'm going to have to be up early looking for stock deals when the market panics tomorrow morning. 

I have the day off today but forgot to turn the alarm off on my phone. Good thing, because I'm following the leftist meltdown through /pol/.

[Northwoods]

It's official.  Still 8 districts to report, but Leave has crossed 50% of total turnout.

[Balog]

Leave is >16.8m, so they have officially won.

[Ben]

Leave is >16.8m, so they have officially won.

I bid you all good night! 

[Viking]

One by one, the dominoes fall.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-wilders-idUKKCN0ZA0HQ
Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party For Freedom calls for a EU referendum in the Netherlands. Yet another happening might be happening.

[AmbulanceDriver]

Yup.  the lefty meltdown is truly epic already - just a quick skim of /r/news on reddit is pretty funny...  

"Britain has made the biggest mistake ever!! it's the end!!!!"

"Hey, how about we wait and see what actually happens?"

"F--- YOU!!!  IT'S THE END!!!!!"

[Viking]

Thread on reddit for those interested:
https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/4pks0a/uk_citizens_vote_to_leave_the_european_union/
Also, if you click on the "Other discussions" on the top, you'll find all the other subreddits where the same link was posted, and the discussion in that subreddit. Currently /r/news is at around 11k posts, and /r/worldnews is at around 12k posts.

[Viking]

Aaaand it's official: The United Kingdom leaves the European Union.
http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-politics-36570120

[RoadKingLarry]

I keep hearing the talking heads mentioning that this is a "non-binding" referendum and while highly unlikely there is a possibility that the will of the peons will be ignored.
I don't see much chance of that but it would be entertaining as hell.

[De Selby]

Yup.  the lefty meltdown is truly epic already - just a quick skim of /r/news on reddit is pretty funny...  

"Britain has made the biggest mistake ever!! it's the end!!!!"

"Hey, how about we wait and see what actually happens?"

"F--- YOU!!!  IT'S THE END!!!!!"

Uh, you realise that the people most upset by this are the economic conservatives, right???

UK socialists have been the most consistent and ardent supporters of the brexit.

[Ron]

Wow! Truly surprised.

[Ron]

Uh, you realise that the people most upset by this are the economic conservatives, right???

UK socialists have been the most consistent and ardent supporters of the brexit.

From an article I just read:

On this matter — and only on this matter — my hero was Tony Benn, a hard-line socialist who in 1990 made the best case for British independence that I have ever heard. By delegating more and more power to the EU, Benn argued, Parliament was confirming that it “had lost confidence in democracy”; that it “believes that it must be governed by someone else”; “that it was “afraid to use the powers entrusted to it by its constituents.” This, Benn believed, was unacceptable. “The rights that are entrusted to us,” he wrote, “are not for us to give away” — not to the King, not to the church, and not to another government. In Benn’s view — and this idea echoes throughout both British and American history — it didn’t matter whether the EU did a good job or imposed salutary laws or helped the economy to grow. “Even if I agree with everything that is proposed, I cannot hand away powers lent to me for five years by the people of Chesterfield,” he argued. “I just could not do it. It would be theft of public rights.”

It's about sovereignty, nationalism.