Should the UK stay in or leave the EU?

I'm curious how this will affect flight costs. Flying in the EU is horribly expensive due to all the crazy emissions fees.

@horseman6: Oh yeah, euroskepticism is definetely on the rise (btw that poll is really not a good one: 10k subjects over 10 countries? And the numbers for Italy positivity towards Europe are way higher than reality). To see that you just need to look at the numbers of the last elections (for France look at Front National). And a major point all these parties make is the weight of Germany which is seen as the de facto ruler. Do you think Merkel and Schauble are popular on the continent? But really from there to France or Germany leaving there is an ocean; it's extremely different from the UK (why do you think they are in the founding block while the UK wasn't?) from a myriad of standpoints.

If (and it's a huge, gigantic if) another country leaves i would bet more on a smaller country from central or northern europe or one of the PIIGS which had to go through the Germany mandated austerity (even mine, which never accessed any helping funds, instead being a net contributor to EU budget and contributed as third after Germany and France to the Greek saving funds which were used to eliminate the exposure of the german and french banks to the greek public debt). Now tho people will look at what happens to the UK, you are certainly going to be the strongest argument for one camp or the other depending on the case

Don't have enough context so all I'll say is ethnic-minority duders in UK stay safe, this sort of thing can really embolden the xenophobic yahoos.

Sinn Fein now calling for a (totally ill-conceived, I think, as the timing's all wrong) border poll leading, they hope, to the reunification of Ireland. The Scottish Nationalists also sabre-rattling about another independence referendum.

In other news - The sun has still risen.

Thank god it has happened, now our children will not face the brunt of enslavement by America.

@shoguns_decapitator: Exactly. Australia voted to become a republic in '99, and now we're gun shy about ever doing that again for fear of losing the public support forever. Scotland would have to be pretty sure before next time.

I hope that things don't become as bad as people are predicting.

I took a break from following politics last year because I didn't think I was physically or emotionally ready to deal with the majority of the shit in it. I don't think I'm ready to deal with this yet...

Cinemax chose the best time to put Children of Men on.

You're fucking this up UK. Man, democracy is a bitch.

If this happens Poland will be next and I will have to look for another place to live...

@skinky: i don't know how it's seen by the general populace in the UK but on the continent your country was seen as a (if not the) major proponent of the TTIP on this side of the ocean

Holy hell, I didn't think they'd actually do it. Well all I can hope for now, is that the downfall will discourage other right-wingers in EU countries to cool their jets. But I fear that the exact opposite will occur.

Congratulations on getting your democracy monarchy back.

EDIT: What are the odds of Scotland, Wales and North Ireland staying in the UK for long, and as such the UK existing for much longer?

And Leave wins by a couple of percentage points. Can't wait to have all that sovereignty and control back, it's been a tough few decades without it. I really don't know the the UK coped at all with so little say in it's own affairs. Now to sail smoothly into the nativist dream knowing that the yoke that has cruelly oppressed us for so long with research grants and volume-limited headphones has been removed. Tally ho!

For real though, the voter turnout of around 70% is legitimately impressive.

This just in: Tea and Crumpets down 50 points. Pitchforks and loose stones up 250 points.

Such a high turnout and most of them vote for this insane thing. It's making me question my own sanity.

This freedom fetish, pro-egoism, anti-regulation meme is the worst thing that's happened to the first world in a long time.

Holy crap!

In view of this, I've provided a light soundtrack for you to enjoy:

Post your own favorites if you have any, and uhh...buy gold?

There are some positives to leaving the EU that I'm trying to focus on, but then a repeat of Farage's pre-emptive victory speech appears... Did he have to mention fucking war in is speech?!

Markets react to uncertainty, the decision isn't even officially in yet, don't read anything into it just yet.

We fucked it.

Arrogance, fear and emotive language won over unity and reason.

How's that currency collapse working out so far?

At my local poll station yesterday they said they'd had more people voting by 10:30am than they'd have in an whole day of general elections which is telling. Let the panic begin.

This is democracy in action, like the result or loathe it, it has to be respected.

I don't have much exposure to this whole thing, and I'll admit the bulk of the information I've taken in about it has been through Last Week Tonight, but as I understand it, the outcome tonight was a pretty bad thing, right?

Depends on who you talk to. This basically means more power goes back to the UK rather than the EU. So trade agreements, immigration policies, etc. will all be handled by the UK so new agreements and laws will need to be created. It would be like if Texas left the states. Would it be bad? Yes and no.

Depends who you ask, a lot of people were upset about Mr Cameron's renegotiation with Europe and the EU in general. Plus the EU isn't doing that hot right now and this will only add to their troubles. I personally don't think its a bad thing, this will take years to see the actual results but I expect this might add firepower to other EU countries wanting out.

I mean who really knows?

Both sides have had their fair share of scare mongering, the whole referendum has been a debacle from start to finish, instead of focusing on facts and changing minds it turned into a shit slinging match between odious celebs and politicians, often looking to score points over one and other. This referendum should never of happened in the first place.

@atomicoldman: is the TPP going to be a good or bad thing?

It's that kind of deal. No-one knows yet.

My heart goes out to the Irish. I truly hope families are not torn apart and broken up by barriers. Never let go of peace!

True enough, who knows how things will look in the long run. I've only heard one side of the argument up to this moment, and of course there's more than one perspective to the whole thing.

Anyway, I hope things work out well for everybody over there.

O boy it really happened. Enjoy your worthless British pounds for the next year.

What's next Declaring war on France ? It Worked for the Germans. Be sure to keep that molotov von Ribbentrop act to point ! This is looking more like game of Hearts of Iron 4

Uhhh. Huh. Well, the next few years will be interesting ones for the UK, I guess. Obviously I can't comment personally because I don't live there, but those charts floating around of the pound's value crashing don't give the best first impression.

The Pound is going to take a short term beating. It already has, matter of fact

But boy oh boy, I can't imagine how this - and possibly further exits - are going to affect the Euro. Can't imagine it'll be good.

@dixavd: ugh yeah. They were talking about going back to traffic stops on the BBC, and then that Sinn Fein statement. I really, really hope it doesn't go back to that.

It's a shock to the market and unexpected. Remember that the stock market is fluctuates constantly in the short term so I wouldn't worry for at least a few months.

I hope that JFK quote doesn't ever become trite because the middle of this decade is a really good time for people to it in mind. It's truly sad that both sides had to resort to incredulous fearmongering to get their messages across, and I'm sure this won't be the last time it happens. History is full of examples where excessive fear lead to even worse catastrophes that the fear aimed to stop in the first place.

I wonder if they know what % of EU regulations are regarding to trade regulations with the EU. Unless they decide to stop trading with the EU, they will still have to conform to those, whether they're in or out the EU.

It would be very sad if we're 10 years further and it turns out that the amount of regulations that they could tone down was not worth the years of instability and recessions.

I respect the process just not the people who uphold it, I can no longer stand living in this country.

I'm happy for our English brothers. As the cradle of our modern civilization and way of life, they deserve to have absolute sovereignty over their own affairs, without molestation from semi-unelected career politicians halfway across a continent.

Hundreds of people in Kiev died for the privilege the UK just lost. Fear and the people instilling it just won.

@ringedwithtile: to be fair, the UK just democratically decided. They didn't lose anything.

I live 2 miles from the border. In fact, some of my family are farmers with land straddling it.

Cool heads are needed right now.

@dave_tacitus: <3

so I haven't heard. Did the UK leave or stay?

@dixavd: I hope I'm wrong and I was vocally dismissing the predictions of instability in NI as scaremongering from Cameron, but all I can see this morning is a group of dissidents waking up in a country which has become less European and more British.

Border restrictions won't come in overnight but I can see them happening and I'm old enough to remember the days when we had country roads blocked entirely with huge concrete bollards.

Look at this: 1.2million majority but still bloody close!

Pff, I liked Scotland better anyway.

@dave_tacitus: Is there a story behind that bollards thing? It sounds like something straight out of WW2.

Britain just voted for its own recession.

@pandapower: It was to stop the IRA/smugglers moving with freedom between NI and the Republic. The reality was a massive ballache for ordinary people who lived in border areas, and the border is 300 miles long.

EDIT - The larger roads were still open, but had not only customs posts but also armed security forces.