British PM "fantastically" resigns as Britain votes to leave EU

In what would go down as a major political event of this century, the British people voted in a landmark referendum to leave the EU whose member Britain has been for about 43 years. The referendum ended 52% to 48% in favour of the "Leave" side against the "Remain" side.

Britain joined the European Union in 1973 alongside Denmark and Ireland when it was still called the European Economic Community (EEC). At that time, just as now, there were concerns about British membership of the organisation from a good number of Britons and the opposition Labour Party in the British Parliament, which required a referendum to be conducted as early as 1975 to determine whether the UK should remain part of it or not. That first referendum ended in favour of continued membership with 67% voting in support of the question. But even then the British people never showed much commitment to be fully part of the organisation as they refused to either join the EU Schengen Area, which eliminates border controls among EU countries, or adopt the Euro which was introduced as the currency of EU countries in 1999.

Forty-one years later, the British people would again revisit the issue of their membership, many citing the lingering migrant crisis and the general lack of a concerted effort by the European Union to stem the tide of refugee crossings into Europe. Other issues that have been pointed out include the gradual loss of UK sovereignty in deciding its own internal affairs to EU bureaucrats whose policies were not often helpful to the UK economy. It remains to be seen how the UK exit will affect its own economy or that of the EU.

Meanwhile, in a similar development, the British PM, David Cameron, resigned his appointment as PM following his failed bid to get the people on his side to support the continued stay of the UK in the EU. Cameron resigned his appointment today in an emotion-laden speech given in front of his official residence at 10 Downing Street.