Brexit: UK Votes to Leave the European Union After 43 Years

Should we stay or should we go? That has been the question tormenting U.K. residents leading up to Thursday’s referendum on whether to leave the European Union.

While no official result had yet been called, the BBC predicted at 5 a.m. GMT that the U.K. has voted by a narrow margin to leave the European Union after 43 years in the historic referendum. ITV also reported that the Leave campaign was victorious.

With momentum picking up on the Leave side earlier in the evening, the value of the British pound fell to its lowest in over three decades. At one stage it hit $1.3459, a 9 percent plunge, and a low not seen since 1985, the BBC reported.

With 33 out of 382 electoral districts having reported, the Leave campaign led by 53 percent to 47 percent, thanks largely to substantial victories in the post-industrial heartlands of North East England, according to Fortune. The Remain campaign had more success in Scotland, where voters went roughly 2:1 in favor of staying.

As always, the British weather had a big impact on the outcome. Torrential rain in London disrupted voting in the most pro-Remain part of England. A sample of London boroughs indicated that the turnout there averaged 69 percent, perhaps five or six percentage points below the nationwide average.

Brexit — meaning British exit from the European Union — has been a hot topic over recent months after British Prime Minister David Cameron announced in February that a referendum would be held.

The next major question facing U.K. residents is whether Cameron will resign as prime minister of his divided nation. The campaign for Scottish Independence is expected to gain momentum once again as many residents north of the border (62 percent) were in favor of staying in the E.U.

The United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (EEC, or “Common Market”) in 1973. The last time the British electorate was asked to vote on the issue of the U.K.’s membership was in 1975, when continued membership was approved by 67 percent of voters.

Unlike at a general election, the results in individual areas do not count — it is the overall number of votes cast for one side or the other across the country that will determine whether the U.K. leaves the European Union.

“The withdrawal process is unprecedented,” a British government spokesperson said recently. “There is a great deal of uncertainty about how it would work.”