Britain Has Voted To Leave The European Union

Early polls had predicted that the vote regarding Brexit, or Britain Exit, would be close — but that Britain would ultimately remain in the EU, mirroring the close race within Scotland when the country voted on its own independence in 2014. (With 55 percent of the vote, Scotland rejected the bid for independence.) Most of those polls saw Great Britain ultimately choosing to remain a part of the European Union. However, the final Brexit results, projected by major networks early Friday morning United Kingdom time, revealed that the majority of the voting population had chosen to vote Leave, meaning that Great Britain will no longer be a part of the EU.

In the hours before the result was announced, the pound swung wildly to its lowest pound in 30 years. At a little before five in the morning U.K. time, major British broadcasters including Sky News, ITV, and the BBC projected that Britain had voted to leave the EU. In the aftermath, the pound continued to crash. (Unlike most of its former allies in the European Union, Britain had never adopted the euro as its currency.)

So, what happens next? Well, there is no precedent for a country leaving the European Union, and Britain's parliament must approve the country leaving the EU before action is taken. (The majority of MPs oppose Brexit.) However, Nigel Farage, who ran an ultimately successful Leave campaign, is already calling June 23 the country's "independence day."

Britain's prime minister, David Cameron, is expected to address the nation in the early hours of the morning. The news is expected to derail, if not completely end, his career in politics; Cameron was responsible for the Remain campaign, which, if the projections hold true, ultimately failed.