Brexit: U.K votes to leave European Union, Pound plummets

The UK has voted to leave the European Union after 43 years in a historic referendum. Prime Minister David Cameron has announced he will be stepping down in October.

#UPDATE British PM David Cameron resigns https://t.co/52AZTE058q pic.twitter.com/MVKQXgumIA

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 24, 2016

The final result was officially announced at the Manchester Town Hall on Friday morning, indicating a 52% vote for “Leave”, to 48% for “Remain”, in a referendum that saw a 71.8% voter turnout of the more than 46 million registered voters went to the polls., which is said to be the highest turnout at a UK election since 1992.

The “Leave Campaign” prevailed after voters in Wales and the English shires backed Brexit in large numbers, despite massive support for the “Remain Campaign” in Scotland and major cities including London.

The result shows over 30 million people went to the about 41,000 polls on Thursday to cast their votes. More than 17 million people voted to leave while around 16 million others voted to stay.

The country is the first to quit the 60-year-old political bloc, culminating decades of suspicion over European aims of creating an ever-closer political union.

Meanwhile the British Pound nose-dived to its lowest level against the US dollar in 31 years, as the markets took fright at the news.

Some UK media sources have also hinted that Scottish nationalists are already raising the prospect of a second independence referendum.