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LONDON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain remained open for business Friday after the shock decision in the national referendum to quit the European Union.
Prime Minister David Cameron, his voice shaking, announced he was resigning but would carry on until October when the keys to 10 Downing Street will be handed to his successor.
Stocks in the city plunged with hundreds of billions of dollars wiped off the value of shares in a matter of minutes, the pound hit its lowest level since the 1980s, and Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party described the historic result as Britain's Independence Day.
Cameron, emotional and with his voice cracking, with his wife Samantha close by, confirmed he would carry on running the country and "steadying the ship" over the coming months.
Behind the scenes there will be inquests into why the majority of Britons chose to leave the European Union, despite warnings of the consequences of a leave decision.
The decision has opened up a divide between London, where the remain side won, while every region in the rest of England delivered a resounding leave vote.
The decision has also opened up the issue of Scottish Independence after every region in Scotland voted to remain.
As dawn broke over Britain, and hours before the official announcement of the result, it became clear that the groundswell of support for Brexit was unstoppable.
Britain will be the first big country to leave the EU since its formation, but the departure process can take two years or more, which means it is business as usual for the country as one of 28 members of the bloc.
Dozens of MPs had signed a letter overnight, including leading members of the Leave campaign, former London mayor Boris Johnson and Justice Secretary Michael Gove, urging Cameron to remain. Cameron said in his speech, though, that he believed a new captain was needed to steer the ship into its next direction.
Ahead of his speech in Downing Street, Cameron had spoken to Queen Elizabeth to inform her of his decision to resign as premier.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, outlined measures being taken by the bank to maintain normality in the running of the country's finances and currency, saying all necessary steps had been taken to accommodate a leave vote and any volatility.
Conservative MP and Leave supporter Liam Fox said voters had shown great courage by deciding to change the course of history for Britain and the rest of Europe.
It will be up to the next Prime Minister to trigger the legal machine that will eventually lead to Britain finally waving goodbye to the EU. Boris Johnson and interior minister, the Home Secretary Theresa May, have already been named as favorites.
The next big question will be the future of George Osborne as Chancellor of the Exchequer, seen as a close ally of Cameron and architect of key reforms, such as the establishment of a northern powerhouse to rebalance the economies of southern and northern England.
Political commentators are also speculating about whether other EU countries will seek to follow Britain through the Brussels door.
In a commentary, the pro-leave Daily Telegraph pulled no punches on Cameron.
"The Prime Minister gambled with Britain's place in the European Union and his own career, and lost. He is finished because the country has rejected his case on the biggest decision the UK has taken in a generation."
"The raw, brutal fact is that Mr Cameron asked the country to trust him on a question of the greatest importance, asking voters to put their trust in him over the future of their country. And those voters didn't listen."
"In fact, they did more than ignore Mr Cameron. In some cases, they took violent exception to his argument," said the commentary.
One of Cameron's parting messages was that "the will of the British people must be respected". And by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 per cent, almost 17.4 million Britons backed a go-it-alone Britain.
It will take days for the dust to settle after the decision sent shockwaves across the world as Britain embarks on an uncertain journey. Enditem
