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News Analysis: Support for Brexit causes political earthquake across Europe?
                 Source: Xinhua | 2016-06-25 03:53:10 | Editor: huaxia

by Larry Neild

LONDON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister David Cameron is to quit, Labour's opposition leader is urged to go and there is a new call for Scottish independence. All these were reactions to a shock decision by Britain to say "au revoir" to membership of the European Union.

Even anti-EU Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, started the early hours of Friday conceding that Brexit had not quite done enough to beat the Remain campaign.

Then the floodgates opened on a wave of leave votes, engulfing the Remain camp and causing what one leading British newspaper described Friday as a political earthquake.

Politicians, business leaders and chiefs from the world of finance and banking, tried to work out the implications of Britain's decision to end its 43-year relationship with the Brussels-based EU.

But one question being grappled with across the country Friday night was what prompted Britons to ignore the warnings of opting for a Brexit vote.

Doom-laden messages of jobs losses, higher prices, tax rises, difficult trading conditions -- the Remain side threw everything apart from the kitchen sink at the 46.5 million Briton's eligible to vote.

London, Scotland and Northern Ireland listened to the message. England and virtually the whole of Wales delivered a resounding no.

Decades of euro-skepticisms and ministerial rebellion led to Britain's self-ejection from a union that voters never fully embraced, said The Guardian.

A commentary in the paper said: "Britain's self-ejection from Europe is the culmination not just of four months of heady campaigning but four decades of latent euro-skepticism, which, through good times and bad, never really went away."

"Campaigners have agitated for EU withdrawal ever since the UK joined the common market in 1973. Labour's official policy for the next decade was to quit, and a sizeable proportion of Conservatives have never been comfortable Europeans," it said.

The Guardian commentary, many observers felt, hit the nail on the head by mentioning the dread "I" word, immigration.

"Polling suggests discontent with the scale of migration to the UK has been the biggest factor pushing Britons to vote out, with the contest turning into a referendum on whether people are happy to accept free movement in return for free trade," it said.

"Public unease has been fuelled by a failure to prevent immigration from piling pressure on jobs markets and public services, and a refusal by politicians to acknowledge the sheer numbers of Europeans making new homes in the UK after the EU's expansion east in 2004 and 2007," added The Guardian.

Britain woke up a Disunited Kingdom, said the tabloid Daily Mirror, warning it could lead to a break-up of the United Kingdom.

Young Britons who backed Remain campaign were left furious blaming older generations who backed Brexit. They vented their fury by heading to Westminster to protest, many waving banners declaring their support for the EU. A petition on the British Parliament calling for a second referendum crashed the website Friday as tens of thousands of people signed their names.

The Daily Mail posed the question, Who will be next?

The paper said euro-skeptic parties are intensifying demands for their own referendums in the wake of the Brexit vote, as repercussions of the political earthquake gradually become clear.

There are fears that Brexit could also trigger a Czexit, a Swexit, and a Grexit in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Greece, The Mail said, adding, "even if the union holds, the political earthquake that has erupted in Britain will have far-reaching aftershocks."

A post-referendum inquest will shed more light on why almost 17.5 million Britons voted brexit. But on-the-spot interviews with voters continually showed up concerns about uncontrolled immigration into Britain, causing problems for schools, health services, housing and jobs. Enditem

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News Analysis: Support for Brexit causes political earthquake across Europe?

Source: Xinhua 2016-06-25 03:53:10

by Larry Neild

LONDON, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister David Cameron is to quit, Labour's opposition leader is urged to go and there is a new call for Scottish independence. All these were reactions to a shock decision by Britain to say "au revoir" to membership of the European Union.

Even anti-EU Nigel Farage, leader of UKIP, started the early hours of Friday conceding that Brexit had not quite done enough to beat the Remain campaign.

Then the floodgates opened on a wave of leave votes, engulfing the Remain camp and causing what one leading British newspaper described Friday as a political earthquake.

Politicians, business leaders and chiefs from the world of finance and banking, tried to work out the implications of Britain's decision to end its 43-year relationship with the Brussels-based EU.

But one question being grappled with across the country Friday night was what prompted Britons to ignore the warnings of opting for a Brexit vote.

Doom-laden messages of jobs losses, higher prices, tax rises, difficult trading conditions -- the Remain side threw everything apart from the kitchen sink at the 46.5 million Briton's eligible to vote.

London, Scotland and Northern Ireland listened to the message. England and virtually the whole of Wales delivered a resounding no.

Decades of euro-skepticisms and ministerial rebellion led to Britain's self-ejection from a union that voters never fully embraced, said The Guardian.

A commentary in the paper said: "Britain's self-ejection from Europe is the culmination not just of four months of heady campaigning but four decades of latent euro-skepticism, which, through good times and bad, never really went away."

"Campaigners have agitated for EU withdrawal ever since the UK joined the common market in 1973. Labour's official policy for the next decade was to quit, and a sizeable proportion of Conservatives have never been comfortable Europeans," it said.

The Guardian commentary, many observers felt, hit the nail on the head by mentioning the dread "I" word, immigration.

"Polling suggests discontent with the scale of migration to the UK has been the biggest factor pushing Britons to vote out, with the contest turning into a referendum on whether people are happy to accept free movement in return for free trade," it said.

"Public unease has been fuelled by a failure to prevent immigration from piling pressure on jobs markets and public services, and a refusal by politicians to acknowledge the sheer numbers of Europeans making new homes in the UK after the EU's expansion east in 2004 and 2007," added The Guardian.

Britain woke up a Disunited Kingdom, said the tabloid Daily Mirror, warning it could lead to a break-up of the United Kingdom.

Young Britons who backed Remain campaign were left furious blaming older generations who backed Brexit. They vented their fury by heading to Westminster to protest, many waving banners declaring their support for the EU. A petition on the British Parliament calling for a second referendum crashed the website Friday as tens of thousands of people signed their names.

The Daily Mail posed the question, Who will be next?

The paper said euro-skeptic parties are intensifying demands for their own referendums in the wake of the Brexit vote, as repercussions of the political earthquake gradually become clear.

There are fears that Brexit could also trigger a Czexit, a Swexit, and a Grexit in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Greece, The Mail said, adding, "even if the union holds, the political earthquake that has erupted in Britain will have far-reaching aftershocks."

A post-referendum inquest will shed more light on why almost 17.5 million Britons voted brexit. But on-the-spot interviews with voters continually showed up concerns about uncontrolled immigration into Britain, causing problems for schools, health services, housing and jobs. Enditem

[Editor: huaxia ]
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