>> make june 23 go down in our history! >> the seismic decision. european leaders say they are decided -- they are stunned by the decision, while others are ushering in an era of uncertainty for not just the u.k. but europe as a whole. avid cameron: we should have

new prime mister in place by the start of the conservative party conference in october. >> british prime minister david cameron announces he will indeed step down. saying a new prime minister will need to lead the negotiations with the eu. francois hollande, the french president, says while he is disappointed with the vote, he will respect the decision of the british people. hello, i am an that young. welcome to "france 24's" special ongoing coverage of the decision by great britain to leave the european union. as we now know, 52% of the population voted yes to leave, with 72% of brits turning out to vote. it was the largest turnout since the 1992 general election. nigel for roger, the man behind rage hasaign -- nigel fa

declared independence day. prime minister david cameron says he will step down. the british pound dropped to the lowest level since 1995 while the result has caused panic across the world's stop mark. -- stock market. questions are now being raised about the future of the european project. however, eu leaders say britain will remember -- will remain a --ber of the block politicians in northern island and scotland -- in northern ireland and scotland are raising the possibility of a vote to leave the u.k. let's listen to what british prime minister david cameron had to say. david cameron: 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. this is not a decision i have taken lightly, but i believe it is in the national interest out of a. of stability and the new leadership required. there is no need for a precise timetable today, but in my view we should aim to have a new prime minister in place by the start of the conservative party conference in october. annette: now to london to speak with benedict patio. that benedict. already claiming david cameron. >> yes, we are in uncharted territory here. when most people went to bed, they thought the result would be a remain. when they woke up this morning a.m., 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 they discovered it is actually a brexit.

divided unitednied kingdom, a united kingdom that could have a second referendum in scotland. there are implications for northern ireland. we have seen the reaction of the markets, very jittery, a real hit on the town. the prime minister, interestingly, coming out and saying he wants to steady the ship. he wants to be a source of stability in the coming weeks and months. but the fact of the matter is, the focus now is who will be the new prime minister? who will be the head of the conservative party. we have had boris johnson and the mayor -- boris johnson, the mayor of london, expressing himself. i thought it was interesting that he used the word "extricate" the united kingdom from the eu. that is very consistent with the mantra of those leaders to take back control.

but the big winner is nigel farage, a man who has based his whole political career and who is at the source of this referendum since david cameron had promised the british people would it, after 40 years of having a referendum on its relationship with then the european economic community, today with the european union. so uncharted territory with huge political implications for the conservative party, for the government of this country, for the future of the united or dis-united kingdom. also, big political repercussions for the labor party and how it did not get its vote out for remain. annette: thank you. as benedicte was just talking about, the leading figure in the campaign was boris johnson. he had a press conference and he says there is no need for haste in negotiations. boris johnson: we cannot turn

our backs on europe. we are part of your. i want to reassure everybody that britain will continue to be a great european power, leading discussions on foreign policy and defense and intelligence that currentlyl goes on to make our world saver. annette: joining us now from london is "guardian" journalist jonathan friedman. this vote is seen as somewhat of a shock. it has reverberations across the world. how much of this was a vote against europe as opposed to a vote about british identity? jonathan: i do not think it was a vote about the european union at all, even though that was the question on the ballot paper. for many people, the question was, are you happy with your life the way it is now? .o that, they wanted to say no

or i it was, are youou worried t immigration? to that, they wanted to say, yes, i am worried. it amounts to an up or down referendum on the status quo, and many people -- 52% -- who wanted to say to the establishment, to globalization itself, we had enough and we want it to stop. many people are having a kind of second thought, buyers remorse, saying we did not think we would actually be leaving. there was a mood of shock even among those who voted to leave. annette: your paper very much supported the remain campaign. where does this now leave britain? where do you see your country five to 10 years from now? question there is zero about whether there will even be a united kingdom in n five or 10

ars.s. the ruling hour, minister in scotland, the leader of the nationalist party, has said she wants a second referendum on independence for scotland. you will remember that two years ago the scottish people rejected independence and she says now they need to have another go because one of the reasons why they rejected independence was because they wanted to stay inside the european union. scotland,, all of every one of scotland's 32 counties voted to stay in, and yet the u.k. is voted out. so they are saying we will not be dragged out of the european union against our will. if necessary, we will break away from the united kingdom. in northern ireland, one of the political parties there says it, too, once a referendum in ireland about where they --

whether they will become a single united country. a member of the european union. what has now been set in train could be the breakup of the united kingdom as well as the ofarture, the exit, brexit, britain from the european union itself. annette: given what happened, do you think british prime minister david cameron has regrets? he must regret this. he is a notorious gambler, most of the time having it work out for him when he rolled the dice. this time he gambled on what was an internal party management problem. he had these noisy anti-european voices on the right of his party, and to silence them, he said we will have a referendum and settle it once and for all. he assumed that even though people like grumbling and complaining about the european union in britain, when it actually came to it, they would

have voted to stay, and he would seal off people on the right of his party and the right of british politics. and many of his supporters never imagined he would lose. he has lost, and in the process, he has lost his job, and he is now out. it was the ultimate gamble from the ultimate gambler, and he lost and lost very badly. besides his own career, this country, britain, which has now done huge damage to its own economic and diplomatic thepects, i would say to european union itself, britain is one of the three big members, along with france and germany -- and you pull out one of those three pillars and there is a risk that the entire building could come down. i am very fearful today, for my own country, but i am fearful, too, for europe and the european union, which i believe has been an extra ordinary mechanism for keeping peace on this continent and is now in grave danger. annette: jonathan friedman from

"the guardian," thank you so much. earlier i spoke with lucy fisher, the senior political correspondent for "the times." i began by asking her if boris johnson stands to become britain's newest prime minister. >> we have had the education secretary to clear that she will declare her interest in standing for the conservative leadership, and i expect a wide field for conservative candidates. she has kept quiet in the eu debate to avoid being tainted by association with the remain campaign. i expect that she will give boris a run for his money as well. annette: it is certainly a day to be remembered, as far as david cameron is concerned. he has made it clear that he is going to step down before the october conservative party conference.

but what next for the conservative government, and where to from here? lucy: it is interesting. what a fall from grace for david cameron. a year ago he was welcoming in a conservative majority, the first conservative majority in several decades. 12 months later, he stepped down. what is going to happen now is that we will see a big fight for the future of the party, between the more liberal progressive wing and the more sectarian side that supported brexit. what happens next as far as the british government is concerned in regard to its relationship with the eu? negotiations have to be set into play, but do we have any idea in terms of time frame? lucy: we do not. the dust has yet to settle. certainly people are piling on

pressure, with article 50. claiming brexit as a real victory for him and theparty, this morning on airwaves calling for negotiations to star as quickly as humanly possible. jeremy corbyn suggested as well that this needs to be set in motion quickly. i think there will be pressure for certain individuals to get started. annette: on the other side of the political spectrum, despite campaigning for the remain campaign, that jeremy corbyn is wanting to be lukewarm about europe, what is going to be the fallout for the labour party? lucy: there will be a huge political fallout as well. he has been accused of having a very lackluster approach to the campaign. he has made no secret in the past that his opposition to the think in hispeople

heart of hearts he still harbors a euro-skeptic view. signeds a letter being calling for jeremy corbyn to go, but i do not know whether that will be today. or in the coming days in the coming days there will be -- annette: lucy fisher there, from "the london times." asked ifde junker was this was indeed the beginning of the end of the european union. >> personally i am very sad about this decision, but of course we have to respect it. this is an unprecedented are united in we our discourse. europeanphold the 's goals of promoting peace

for its peoples. annette: northern ireland's largest nationalist party, sinn fein, began calling on whether leave asry should well. with the u.k. as a whole having voted to leave, it is seen as a positive for scotland, being taken out of the eu very much out of it -- against its will. they will once again seek a referendum calling for independence. parliament should call another referendum. there is a significant change for the circumstances, such as scotland being taken out of the eu against our will. is a significant change in circumstances, with the option

of a second referendum being on the table. it is on the table. bulk -- manyvast have voted to leave, that the majority of 17 backing brexit, only five areas voted for remain. for more on the astounding response, let's talk now with neil williams, the group leader for wales. many were other on the -- many were on the other side of the channel. they see that most of the council districts have voted for labor, how do you explain that? neil: by the way, i am neil hamilton. the labour party leadership is completely out of touch with the traditional labor voter. gains have been made in the assembly election this year, simply underlying the

long-term trend that the old-fashioned traditional labor voters have drifted away from the party because it no longer represents their interests. annette: we have just heard from the scottish leader, talking about another referendum for scottish independence. you want, not only in end to the relationship with eu but an end to the united kingdom? we want to keep scotland and wales and england and northern ireland together, because that is our nation. it is the scottish people -- if the scottish people want another referendum, i do not see any referendum stopping them from having one. personally, i do not think the scottish people do want to be out of the eu if the price of that is to be out of the united kingdom. it will be a bit of a waste of

time, but if they want to have the one, let them have it. annette: i do apologize for the error with your name. also having a press conference in the last hour was french president francois hollande, who says he deeply regrets the outcome of the british referendum. however, he respects the decision. hollande: the british people, through a referendum, have decided to leave the european union. it is a painful choice, and i deeply regret it for the united kingdom and for europe. but this choice is theirs. and we need to respect it. annette: the remain camp forecasts isolation in investment, while the leave campaign is predicting a bright new future. as the u.k. heads into the uncharted territory of brexit,

how will its economy fare? kate moody takes a look. and a news a new day unpredictable world in london. the financial capital of the u.k. and of europe. in the short and medium term, the uncertainty of what it brings it means will create volatility on the market, with stocks and the pound-sterling in for a rocky ride. europeanre shifting operations to paris, frankfurt, or dublin, but some are optimistic that london's city will maintain its status. >> it is clear the city will have t to reinvent itself, but e , andy is the eueuropean c centr the fact that it is not in the eu is not the most crucial element. after all, london was the center of financial markets even before britain was part of the european union. >> as the brexit goes ahead, it

--is anybody's guess how what will be the new normal. u.k. will have to renegotiate trade deals with its partners around the world. eu member states in particular could try to drive a hard barton that's a hard b bargain too discourage other countries from leaving. >> relationships with eu will be cap sooner or later. also joinu.k. could the free trade association, including norway, and switzerland. annette: another european leader who has held a f press conference is german chancellor angela merkel. jessica, what did the chancellor have to say? jessica: i think we have seen that she is disappointed with

the reactions of many across the leader -- she gave a typical angela merkel press conference, where she did not want to incite panic. disappointmenter with the british referendum, but she said lessons would be learned from this and it was now ,ime for europe to move forward and there were consequences that she said there would take days, weeks, and month to discuss. she is buying quite a lot of time. weird for many other politicians in europe, saying a quicker brexit would be less painful of a solution. angela merkel also took the time to reiterate the importance of the eu, saying it was important that the 27 member states that remain were not disturbed by the brexit, and that there was time

for more convergence in europe, saying that the best way to guarantee the future of the block was to come together for more solidarity. as i said, she did not want to invite any panic, given that are concerned about business and the markets are concerned at the moment. annette: let me pick you up on that point. what other comments that have beenen made by german busisines? jessica: -- annette: we seem to have lost our correspondent. let's take a listen to what mark carney, the governor of the bank of england, had to say. we are well prepared for this. her majesty' in the bank of -- the chancellor and i have remained in close contact, including through the night and

this morning. to be clear, the bank of e engld will not hesitate e to take addiditional measusureas requir, as markets adjust, and as the u.k. economy moves forward. annette: let's talk to our business editor, stephen carroll. let's start with the markets. what is happening in france and elsewhere? stephen: the paris markets here have been one of the most seriously affected by the leave vote in the united kingdom. 8%, ac is down around short time ago. banking shares have been the worst hit. down about 20% today. that is affecting sectors across europe. on the dax in germany, we have seen index is down by a percent. the banks among the biggest followers -- the biggest fallers .

those the banks among were the worst affected, we saw some improvement somewhat. they were more dramatic earlier in the day after those comments by mark carney. we can speak with craig, a -- can you put into context how serious the market falls are? greg: -- craig: this is the biggest one-day decline we have seen ever in the markets. it puts in context how significant the moves are. we saw a huge moves in the ftse and other indices. they have recovered somewhat. but this kind of intraday volatility is extraordinarily rare, and it goes to show how worried people were about the follow-up from brexit, not just in the u.k..

there has been a lot of focus on the u.k. and the impact it could have on the u.k. economy. people are extremely concerned about the contagion effect, what will happen to the european economy but also what impact it partiese on the anti-eu and the likes of the netherlands, italy, and spain. they have seen the u.k. succeed, and maybe they will start to push even more, particularly if the u.k. gets preferential conditions. stephen: have we seen the worst of the market falls now? have markets bottomed out? could things get more serious as the day goes on, coming up to the u.s. market open? craig: we could see some fallout. i have seen we -- i think we have seen them broadly stabilize, that i think we will see a little more negativity to come.

i think we could see more downside in the coming weeks because of the amount of uncertainty that now hangs around the u.k.'s relationship with eu and that contagion effect. but i think we have seen the sharpest falls we are going to see, not surprising given how one expected how the vote to leave was, and what was priced in the vote to stay. stephen: they were really caught off guard. the fall in sterling overnight was really dramatic. is there any chance they could be a benefit for some u.k. companies making the goods cheaper abroad? craig: of course it could. the pound actually fell extremely significantly shortly after midnight in the u.k. ofeaker pound because 85% the money is generated a broader a weaker currency could generate ae that could benefit the -- weaker currency could generate

-- could benefit. stephen: thank you very much for your time. putting thi8úxúññdqwueeewx

[thunder] >> people are going to do things under cover of darkness, afraid of light, so if you come at midnight, i'll be there with my headlights glaring. if you are a democratic country with a constitution that has a bill of rights, you have to enforce those rights and people must enjoy certain basic freedoms that are allowed by the law. what about his rights to an early heariring? >> i i think initially, whehen she started to represent me,