The UK has voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union after 43 years in an historic referendum, a BBC forecast suggests.

London and Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU but the remain vote has been undermined by poor results in the north of England.

Voters in Wales and the English shires have backed Brexit in large numbers.

The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-36615028
Brexit would be economically impactful in many ways. Groups like the International Monetary Fund, the Bank of England and the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimate that it would shave as much as 5,000 pounds annually off British incomes, but it would also hugely effect currency markets, trade, and economic growth in the U.K. (For a quick tally of some of the possible effects, see this article by George Soros, who made billions the last time the pound tanked in a major way.)
http://time.com/4379231/brexit-vote-economy/
The decision carries hefty consequences for American businesses, which employ more than a million people in Britain. The United States is the largest single investor in Britain, and many firms consider it the gateway to free trade with the 28 nations that make up the E.U. A Brexit would jeopardize their access to those markets, potentially reducing revenue and forcing some firms to consider relocating their European operations elsewhere. That has put corporate America onto the front lines of the campaign to keep the union together, with several of Wall Street's biggest names donating substantial sums to the effort.

A Brexit would be "bad for the U.K., it would be bad for Europe, it would be bad for the world, including the United States," Angel Gurría, secretary general of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said in an interview. "You already have enough uncertainty in the world today. We don't need more."
The International Monetary Fund on Friday issued one of the most dire forecasts to date, calling the impact of Britain's departure from the European Union "negative and substantial." The fund predicted that a Brexit could reduce economic growth by up to 5.6 percent over the next three years in its worst-case scenario. The gloomy outlook is driven by an expected sharp decline in the pound and severe disruptions in trade as the nation is forced to renegotiate deals with countries across the continent, potentially on worse terms.

Those concerns were echoed by policymakers around the world last week. The Bank of England called the referendum the "largest immediate risk facing U.K. financial markets, and possibly also global financial markets." Finland's finance minister dubbed Brexit a "Lehman Brothers moment," referring to the collapse of the U.S. investment bank during the depths of the financial crisis in 2008.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/06/18/how-brexit-could-hurt-america/
Top