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Brave New World – first reflections on Brexit

The UK has stepped back from Europe, stepped back from the world – and in the process done deep damage to itself, the EU and the wider world.

By Kirsty Hughes
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Nigel Farage: victorious. PAimages/Matt Dunham. All rights reserved.The shockwaves from England and Wales’ Brexit vote will reverberate and grow for months and years to come.

In the first few hours since the vote, there have been calls for a second Scottish independence referendum, for a vote on Irish reunification, for joint control of Gibraltar, Cameron’s resignation, the Labour right mounting a pre-planned attack on Corbyn, falling stock markets, falling pound and other currencies and more.

A divided public

Some are labelling this a backlash of the public against the elites. Yet 48% of the UK public voted to remain in the EU – so it’s a divided public. And the Leave campaign was run by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, as elite as any, with the aid of the mostly eurosceptic British media.

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0