The U.K. has voted to leave the European Union, a major move that triggered a dive in financial markets, shocked much of Europe, and led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron.
The vote, dubbed “Brexit” for “British exit,” was held for as a response to the conservative U. K. Independence Party’s increasingly insistent calls for U.K. “sovereignty.” Though many argued an economic incentive for Britain to leave the E.U., the vote to exit was fueled in large part by anti-immigrant sentiment and a push for greater control over Britain’s borders.
The New York Times reports,
While leaders of the Leave campaign spoke earnestly about sovereignty and the supremacy of Parliament … it was anxiety about immigration — membership in the European Union means freedom of movement and labor throughout the bloc — that defined and probably swung the campaign.
...The campaign run by one of the loudest proponents of leaving, the U.K. Independence Party, flirted with xenophobia, nativism and what some of its critics considered racism. But the official, more mainstream Leave campaign also invoked immigration as an issue, and its slogan, “Take control,” resonated with voters who feel that the government is failing to regulate the inflow of people from Europe and beyond.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who agreed to hold the vote to placate conservatives in the lead up to British elections in October 2015, announced just hours after the votes were counted that he would be stepping down.
“The British people have voted to leave the European Union, and their will must be respected,” he said.
"I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the European Union, and I made clear the referendum was about this and this alone — not the future of any single politician, including myself.
But the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path, and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.
I will do everything I can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”
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