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Editorial: Britain faces uncertain future after EU vote

 
British voters surprised the world with the stunning vote to leave the European Union. Now it’s up to Prime Minister David Cameron, above, who selfishly called the vote and announced after Friday’s defeat he is stepping down, to carry out the voters’ will without causing even more dominoes to fall.
British voters surprised the world with the stunning vote to leave the European Union. Now it’s up to Prime Minister David Cameron, above, who selfishly called the vote and announced after Friday’s defeat he is stepping down, to carry out the voters’ will without causing even more dominoes to fall.
Published June 24, 2016

British voters surprised the world with the stunning vote to leave the European Union in a sharply divided election this week that is an unsettling loss for Britain, the continent and Western peace and prosperity. There are many easy explanations why British voters went down this route, including the populist wave surging across the United States and Europe. But the British exit, or Brexit, was a short-term ploy that was never built to address Britain's most serious problems. Now it's up to the caretaker government of Prime Minister David Cameron, who selfishly called the vote and announced after Friday's defeat he is stepping down, to carry out the voters' will without causing even more dominoes to fall.

British voters opted to leave the EU by 52 to 48 percent in a referendum where the turnout topped 72 percent, higher than the last general election. Those voting to remain were isolated in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland, while those favoring an exit swept most of England and Wales. However disappointing, it was a commanding result from the breadth of the electorate, and Cameron was right to clear the way for a new leader.

Cameron called the vote as a way to placate the far-right voices in his Conservative Party in the run-up to winning a new term as prime minister in 2015. The maneuver was intended to bottle up anxiety across Britain over job losses in the industrial north, anti-immigrant sentiment arising from new arrivals taking jobs, housing and services, and frustrations with micromanagement from European Union bureaucrats. It backfired. The class-conscious British also viewed their leaders and London itself as being in another world, more focused on playing a gilded role in global politics and finance than in taking care of constituents back home.

The impact on Britain and the world community remains to be seen. Apart from toppling the prime minister, the outcome sent stocks and the pound tumbling on Friday, and it forced England's central bank to publicly reassure investors in the country's credit and financial markets.

An orderly withdrawal from the EU could take Britain years as it renegotiates trade, border and other agreements. Yet short-term, the vote will almost surely inspire Scotland to hold another referendum on independence from the U.K. And it reignites the call for a united Ireland, which would pair the north with the EU's fastest-growing economy.

Exit supporters were quick to dismiss any claim Friday that the outcome would wall Britain off from the world, but that's exactly what will happen. The EU faces a harder time in maintaining European unity, which already is under pressure from a resurgent Russia and China and from an exodus of Middle Eastern refugees. Washington will lose leverage in Europe, too, as it saw Britain — not France or Germany — as its most trusted partner across the Atlantic.

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Predictably, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump praised Britain's exit from the EU as he taps into similar frustration in the United States over the economy and immigration. But the situations don't entirely line up — the stress factors are more severe and long-standing in Britain, and there are no questions about America's sovereignty. The main lesson to American politicians should be to become better listeners to voters' concerns and better explainers of sound public policy.

The EU and Britain will have to address the competing demands for growth and social services without the luxury of having a European bureaucracy to blame. And Britain still faces the costly, delicate task — as do other nations — of assimilating its immigration population. U.K. voters may feel more in control having turned back the clock, reset the balance of power with their government and forged a new level of national pride. But they also brought about great uncertainty that will affect friends and foes alike.