Brexit

Friday

Douglas Murray

It is best not just for Britain but for the EU that we part ways

From our UK edition

A few thoughts on today’s events. First – it wasn’t working. With each year it was becoming more and more obvious that Britain and the EU wanted different things. Many (though not all) continental countries seem happy with a political union which pools their national sovereignty. There may be virtues in that, problems in it or both.  But it was never a desire of the British people. Last night demonstrated that. So it is best not just for Britain but for the EU that we part ways. If we had not then we would have continued to be a hindrance and drag on our partners during the next stages of their political development. Secondly – I hope that there can be a widespread, indeed unanimous, agreement that we wish the rest of the EU exceptionally well.

Matthew Lynn

Why Brexit is worse for Europe’s economy than it is for ours

From our UK edition

Share prices in freefall. Pension funds obliterated. A sea of red ink across trading screens. Billions wiped off the value of leading companies. And brokers, or at least the automated trading algorithms that have replaced them, contemplating throwing themselves out of the window, or whatever exactly it is that an algorithm does when it has a really bad day at the office. That is surely an accurate description of the City of London this morning. Except, er, is isn’t really. In fact, as the financial markets wake up to an outcome they had planned for but never really expected, something far more interesting is happening.

Ed West

Vote Leave now need to repay the people who voted for their cause

From our UK edition

My part of north London feels like the morning after England get knocked out from the World Cup. People look genuinely angry, and down the road in Islington the benevolent moral guardians of the current year have been shouting 'scum' at Boris Johnson outside his house. https://twitter.com/LBC_Charlotte/status/746260182297088001 After the most unpleasant period in British politics for years, and a sour and recriminating atmosphere now lingering, the Vote Leave team – who may be the government in waiting – have got to unite the nation to assure stability; politically, economically and mentally.

Melanie McDonagh

This EU anarchy is more interesting than the alternative

From our UK edition

Don’t know about you, but the healing process is proving difficult from my point of view in dealing with my friends and family. My daughter, who is 9, broke down and cried over breakfast when she heard the result. Which is nothing to what her class will do: to a child, they’re solidly pro-Remain, and I know who’s spreading the message too – one of the little girls’ fathers is a journalist who worked himself up into a state of incoherence at the very thought of Brexit… he’s probably lying down in a darkened room right now. A colleague of mine whom I’d always thought of as rather a good friend won’t actually speak to me now; she has discerned that I may not be wholly on side on the result.

Tom Goodenough

David Cameron’s resignation speech in full

From our UK edition

David Cameron has announced his decision to step down as Prime Minister following the vote to leave the European Union. Here's what he said on the steps of No.10 Downing Street this morning: The country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise – perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people – from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar – have all had their say. We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people with these big decisions. We not only have a parliamentary democracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves - and that is what we have done.

James Forsyth

David Cameron resigns, but not immediately

From our UK edition

In an emotional but dignified statement, David Cameron has announced his resignation as Prime Minister. However, he will not resign immediately. Instead, he will stay to, in his phrase, ‘steady the ship’. But he wants a new Prime Minister in place by the Tory party conference this autumn.  Sensibly, Cameron said that he himself would not trigger Article 50, the two year process for leaving the EU. He said that it should be up to the new Prime Minister to make that decision. Cameron will, one suspects, go down in history for this referendum. But it should be remembered that there is more to his premiership than that.

Brendan O’Neill

This is democracy in all its beauty and glory

From our UK edition

Consider the magnitude of what has just happened. Against the warnings of experts, the pleas of the vast majority of MPs, the wishes of almost every capitalist, and overtures from Brussels, a majority of British people have said No to the EU. They’ve done the thing almost everyone with power and influence said they shouldn’t: taken a leap into the dark; chased after the devil they don’t know in preference for the one they do; taken a big, exciting risk with the very nature of their nation. They have — let’s just say it — rebelled, and rebelled against virtually every wing of the establishment. You don’t even have to be on the Leave side to admire this (although of course it helps if you are). You just have to be in favour of democracy.

James Forsyth

Britain votes to leave the European Union

From our UK edition

In the greatest political upset of recent time, Britain has voted to leave the European Union. We are now in uncharted waters in both UK and EU politics. The first question is what does David Cameron do? We can expect a statement from him later this morning. But the bigger question is how does the exit process work? We know that Vote Leave oppose triggering Article  50 immediately, beacuse they want to thrash out the outlines of a deal before doing that. I suspect that the initial reaction in Brussels and other EU capitals will be shock and anger at the result. How long that takes to calm is key to whether this exit negotiation can be concluded successfully.

Thursday

Ed West

A bitter culture war has begun in Britain

From our UK edition

I wrote a while back that the UK referendum wouldn't be at all bitter or divisive, and I think it's fair to say I was utterly, utterly wrong. I just hope whoever wins shows a spirit of magnanimity and conciliation, and tries to steer the country to the most moderate course available. Perhaps it was obvious that this debate would turn into a sort of British culture war, one that divided the country heavily over the issue of globalisation. As James Bartholomew points out in this week's issue of The Spectator, the referendum has exposed a huge rift between the metropolitan elite and the rest.

Freddy Gray

Ten handy phrases for bluffing your way through referendum night

From our UK edition

Alright folks, this is the big one. It’s EU Referendum Night, and bluffers everywhere have been training hard. We’ve all been talking utter rot about Europe for months now. To distinguish yourself tonight, you need to bring your A-game, especially since there will be nothing much to say until at least 2 am. Here are ten starter phrases that should help you through any Brexit-related discussion. But I’m sure you can all think of many more. Just remember that nobody really knows what they are banging on about — least of all our politicians — so be imaginative, be bold, and blag for Britain (or Europe, depending on which way the wind is blowing). 1) Yes, but would Leave actually mean Leave? As all good bluffers know, questions keep you on the front foot.

Brendan O’Neill

The EU may well survive today’s vote — but the left won’t

From our UK edition

If you’ve heard a whirring noise in the background of today’s momentous vote, don’t worry: it’s just Tony Benn turning in his grave. Benn was one of Britain’s keenest, and most articulate critics of the European Union. He and other Labour grandees, along with top trade unionists, raged against the EU for being aloof and arrogant and for usurping parliament. Summoning up his Chartist soul, his love of the Levellers, his belief that radical Britons didn’t fight and die over centuries for the sovereignty of parliament just to see it overturned by some well-fed suits in Brussels, he would slam the EU for having not a ‘shred of accountability’ and for being second only to the Kremlin for its anti-democratic antics.

Fraser Nelson

Bookmakers odds: chance of Brexit plunges to all-time low of 15 per cent

From our UK edition

As Britain goes to the polls to vote on the EU Referendum, the odds on Brexit are plummeting – to a new low of 17 per cent at the time of writing. The Spectator’s zoomable live odds chart, below, shows the speed of the decline. At 9am this morning it was 23pc, at 10.45am it was 19pc and by 11.30am it was 17pc. An hour later, 15pc. The chart should appear below – but while our site is especially busy it may take a few moments to load: This chimes with the opinion of everyone I’ve spoken to, in both Leave and Remain camps: there’s a chance of Brexit, but not much of a chance. Today’s YouGov poll shows the country evenly balanced, and we also know Leave voters are more likely to turn out than Remain.

Wednesday

Peter Jones

Cicero’s Brexit moment

From our UK edition

If Remain has won, for all the political and financial flurries, it will be business as usual for us plebs. But such is the EU’s octopus-like embrace, so it will be if the Leavers win, creating much disillusionment. Cicero felt equally impotent at a similarly dramatic turning point — the assassination of EUlius Caesar. Cicero had long despaired at the slow collapse of the ‘free’ republic and the rise of the tyrant Caesar. ‘We ought to have resisted him while he was weak — then it would have been easy,’ Cicero wrote in a letter. When Caesar started the civil war in 49 BC, he exclaimed ‘Are we talking about a Roman general or Hannibal?

Tom Goodenough

Coffee House Shots: The final countdown

From our UK edition

There are now only hours until the polls open in the EU referendum. But the campaigning has continued today right up until the wire as both 'Remain' and 'Leave' do their best to win every vote in what looks set to be a close contest. David Cameron, Jeremy Corbyn, Sadiq Khan and Boris Johnson have been across the airwaves as they attempt to convince the public which way they should vote. It's not only political figures from the UK who have had their say, though: Jean Claude Juncker has insisted Britain would not be getting a new reform package after tomorrow's vote. Was it wise for him to speak out? On today's final Coffee House Shots podcast before the referendum, James Forsyth tells Fraser Nelson that: 'He was trying to say 'Don't think you can vote out and get a better deal.

Matthew Lynn

If Brexit is the result, start buying the market

From our UK edition

It is four o’clock on Friday morning. The early returns suggest Leave is edging ahead. You’ve just seen a tweet that Peter Mandelson has fled the country, and that Boris Johnson has been seen pencilling in the names of his cabinet. What is the first thing you do? Rush down to Sainsbury’s and stock up on olives before they get banned? Text that Polish builder for some final painting and decorating before he gets sent home? Perhaps. But actually what you should do is very simple. Get on the phone to your broker, or more realistically go online, and get ready to start buying the FTSE, the pound, and every other British asset you can lay your hands on.

Ben Kew

The Spectator’s Guide to EU Referendum day (and night)

From our UK edition

Britain goes to the polls tomorrow for the most important vote in a generation, as the country decides whether it would like to remain part of the European Union, or leave. But what will happen on the day itself? And where are the key areas to watch out for overnight? Here, The Spectator has put together a run-through of what to look out for and when we can expect to find out the results: Thursday 23rd June 7.00am Polling stations open across the UK. Voters will be asked the question: Should Britain remain a member of the European Union, or Leave the European Union? 10.00pm Polling stations close and the counts begin. Unlike a general election, no exit poll will be taken because of the potential margin of error.

Nicholas Farrell

Spare a thought for the proud Brits denied tomorrow’s vote

From our UK edition

I live in Italy at the heart of the European Union and have witnessed first hand how the euro has destroyed La Dolce Vita and reduced the Italian economy to basket case status. But even though I am a British citizen and probably better equipped than most to see just how awful the EU is, I am not allowed to vote in the referendum tomorrow. Why? Because I have not been registered to vote in the UK within the past 15 years. I may live abroad but I remain proudly British. I fly a Union Jack - bought in a ship’s chandlers in the port of Ravenna where the exiled poet Dante died in 1321 - from the aerial of my Land Rover Defender.

Tom Goodenough

The PM boils his entire referendum campaign into a single word. But will it convince voters?

From our UK edition

David Cameron has boiled down his entire EU referendum campaign into a single word: together. The Prime Minister made one of his final pitches to Britain on the Today programme just now. But despite doing his best to put forward the positive case for staying in, he still came unstuck on the age-old issue of migration. He was repeatedly quizzed on his net migration target to reduce numbers to the tens of thousands. We knew before that this is, to say the least, a tricky subject for Cameron. And he didn't offer much in the way of substance to salve voters' worries. Instead, when immigration came up, he flipped the discussion to being one about the economy.

Tom Goodenough

Would a narrow win for ‘Leave’ be useful in getting a better post-Brexit deal?

From our UK edition

In less than 24 hours, the polling booths will finally open. We've seen today the now familiar raft of letters from both sides calling on people to vote 'Remain' or back Brexit. 51 FTSE have signed a letter saying they think the UK should stay in the European Union. Whilst Tate and Lyle Sugars said Brexit would be the best way ahead for its business in a message to employees. But amidst this final push for votes, the polls show that tomorrow's referendum will likely be an even race: the 'What UK think's' poll of polls has 'Remain' on 51 per cent and 'Leave' on 49 per cent. So what if the margin between the two sides really is so small? In an interesting interview on Today just now, leading Brexit campaigner Daniel Hannan touched on the subject.