After months and months of speculation, the suspense over Brexit is finally over. Britain has voted to leave the European Union (EU), as results from the referendum conducted to decide the issue came in today. The ‘Leave’ campaign pulled in 52 per cent of the vote, while ‘Remain’ could manage only 48 per cent.

The case for Brexit

The clamour to leave the EU came mostly from conservative circles, which claimed that the EU was imposing too many restrictions on business, at the same time siphoning off large sums of money from the country in the name of membership fees. The Right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP) had campaigned aggressively in favour of leaving, taking a strong anti-immigration stance. A case was also made by certain Left-wing elements against staying in the EU, citing the dilution of member nations’ democratic integrity and empowering a centralised European bureaucracy.

British PM David Cameron led the ‘Remain’ campaign, even though the Conservative party to which he belongs, pledged to remain neutral. Meanwhile, the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats all supported the campaign to stay in the EU.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Many major newspapers published a special early edition between 5am and 6am GMT, most making use of the word ‘out’ in their headline. While The I went simply with that word in all caps, both Daily Mail and its Scottish edition screamed, “WE’RE OUT!” Ditto Daily Mirror, except for the exclamation mark.

The Daily Record warned its readers, “Be very afraid.. we’re on our way OUT”, while The Independent splashed a picture of United Kingdom Independence Party leader Nigel Farage with his quote “We won it without a single bullet being fired“.

The Times and Metro went with straightforward headlines (“Brexit for Britain” and “Britain divides”, respectively), The Sun was characteristically high on pun, screaming “SEE EU LATER!”

Even as readers were wondering about The Guardian, someone on Twitter dug up and posted this blast from the past:

After Brexit, Camexit

One of the first casualties of the ‘Brexit’ vote was David Cameron. In an impassioned speech outside 10 Downing Street, the British Prime Minister announced that he is stepping down, saying that his successor will take charge “by the start of the Conservative conference in October”. “I think the country requires fresh leadership. I do not think I can be the captain to take the country to its next destination,” said Cameron.

Taking a pounding

Close on the heels of Great Britain voting to exit the European Union, the pound fell to $1.33, the lowest since 1985. It was also down more than seven per cent against the euro. The Indian rupee dropped to 68.21 against the US dollar.

With the possibility of a period of uncertainty, markets worldwide reacted with panic before recovering on the back of assurances by central banks. In India, the Sensex crashed by over 1,000 points before outgoing Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan stepped in to reassure the market.

London’s top index, the FTSE 100, saw 100 billion pounds being wiped off, resulting in Bank of England pledging 250 billion pounds to stabilise the markets. European markets did not fare any better, with Italy, Spain, France and Germany all reporting drops.

Among the worst hit, were markets in east Asia. While Hang Seng (Hong Kong) dropped 1,000 points, trading in Japan’s Nikkei was halted after it plunged over 1,100 points.

Scotland votes ‘Remain’

Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU with 62 per cent Scots voting for ‘Remain’, although the UK-wide result means that Scotland will be dragged out of the EU against its will. Britain’s exit may possibly lay the ground for another referendum for Scottish independence, after the previous one in 2014 ended with Scotland staying within the UK.

Following the result, SNP leader and First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon spoke to the press and declared that her party plans to pursue all options in order to conduct a second referendum.

Brexit: the first domino to fall?

Meanwhile, Right-wing parties all across Europe hailed Brexit – leader of France’s National Front (FN) Marion Le Pen said the British people “made the right choice”, while Dutch politician Geert Wilders called for a similar referendum in the Netherlands.

With all the anti-EU rhetoric, it didn’t take long for the Twitterverse to speculate on what would follow Brexit.

Brexit breaking India? Fear not

#Brexit has been trending worldwide. India has not been an exception. Beyond the attempts to add two humorous cents (pence? paise?), Indians have been wondering (without any conclusive evidence beyond a sensitive index that fluctuated as expected) what sort of (potentially negative) impact Brexit will have on their day-to-day lives.

Rajan might have tried to assuage the markets’ fears, but for the benefit of the general population, politicians stepped up to the plate. So we had Finance  Minister  Arun Jaitley issuing a statement on Facebook and tweeting the link, and Amit Shah also posting a series of tweets about the referendum.

Taking the cake, though, was Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi CM used this development to call for a referendum on Delhi statehood. Clearly, an opportunity to take a dig at the Centre is not to be missed.