One of the architects of Britain’s seismic decision to leave the European Union was given a hostile reception at a special meeting of the EU Parliament called to address the crisis Tuesday.
As the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage has been a leading voice calling Britain to leave the European Union since he arrived in Brussels as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) in 1999.
He was met with boos and turned backs from fellow MEPs as he addressed the Parliament.
“Isn’t it funny? When I came here 17 years ago and I said that I wanted to lead a campaign go get Britain out of the European Union, you all laughed at me. Well, I have to say, you’re not laughing now, are you?” he said.
He then appealed to MEPs to cut a “sensible, tariff-free deal” with Britain following last week’s vote in a national referendum to leave.
“But do it sensibly and allow us to go off and pursue our global ambitions and future.”
German politician to Farage: ‘Shame on you’
Earlier, a German MEP accused Farage and fellow Leave campaigners of misleading the British public over the vote.
“The worst liars can be found among UKIP,” said Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, to loud applause.
“Mr. Farage, if you had an ounce of decency in you, you would apologize today to the British. Shame on you.”
During his speech, Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, turned to confront Farage and said he was surprised he was there.
“That’s the last time you are applauding here,” he said to the British Brexiters.
“You were fighting for the exit, the British people voted in favor of the exit. Why are you here?”
Juncker: Swift decision needed
The so-called Brexit was the focus of debate as EU Parliament convened for an extraordinary plenary session of its Conference of Presidents in Brussels Tuesday, where British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to face European leaders to discuss the UK’s complicated and potentially messy divorce from the bloc.
In his comments, Juncker said Britain must make a swift decision on exiting the bloc to avoid lingering uncertainty.
“I would like the UK to clarify its position — not today or tomorrow at 9 a.m., but swiftly,” he said. “We cannot allow ourselves a prolonged period of uncertainty.”
Juncker said he was saddened by the vote, but that the decision should be respected.
He instructed European commissioners to not engage in Brexit negotiation talks with UK officials until Britain gave formal notification of its intent to withdraw by invoking Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon.
The British people would remain the friends of the European Union, he said.
Cameron defers triggering Brexit
The vote last week to pull out of the union has wounded the European project and left Britain with a nasty hangover, sending the pound spiraling, dampening markets, creating a leadership vacuum and triggering talks of Scottish secession from Britain.
Cameron, who announced his resignation after leading a failed campaign to remain in Europe, has said he won’t trigger Article 50 — leaving the decision to his successor who is expected to be in place by the start of September.
“Before we do that, we need to determine the kind of relationship we want with the EU,” he said. “Any new negotiation to leave the EU will begin under a new prime minister.”
The stance puts him at odds with his European counterparts, who have insisted that Article 50 must be triggered before negotiations begin, and warned that the UK cannot expect any favors from the bloc in the wake of its momentous decision to leave.
Addressing the Brexit in the German parliament Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “If you want to exist and leave this family, then you cannot expect all the obligations to drop away but privileges to continue to exist.”
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi expressed similar views Tuesday, telling CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that the UK would not be able to belong to the European single market without accepting the free movement of people.
“In my view, it’s impossible to belong to (a) community only with the good things and not with the bad things,” he said.
“It’s impossible to be very communitarian about the economy and not about values. This is the problem, in my view, about this campaign.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will also be in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting. Earlier, he said that the vote would not change Washington’s “unbreakable bond” with Britain.
First call for referendum do-over
British Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is the first member of UK’s government to suggest that Article 50 should not be triggered until the public has had a chance to vote on a new deal with the EU, by either calling a general election or having another referendum.
Writing in the Telegraph, Hunt suggests the ideal scenario would be what he called a “Norway plus” arrangement, echoing the non-EU member’s relationship with the bloc. He says in the piece that the ideal scenario would still allow access to the single market but with a “sensible” compromise on free movement of people.
“As their biggest non-EU trading partner, it is in the European interest to do this deal with them as much as it is in our interests to secure it,” he writes.
He also suggested that any MP nominated to replace David Cameron as Prime Minister should ensure EU migrants already living in the UK have their rights protected, and pledge that “full permanent residence will be granted to all European citizens living and working in Britain on the day of the referendum.”
Speaking to UK broadcaster ITV Tuesday, Hunt said he was “seriously considering” running as a candidate to replace Cameron.
“I am considering it, but what I want to do is to make the argument as to the kind of Britain that we need to be outside the EU.
“The people have spoken — we are going to be leaving the EU. But what I’m saying today is that we must remain part of the single market, because thousands of people work for companies which are international companies who’ve invested in the UK.”
No-confidence vote
In the UK, opposition Labour MPs have seized the Brexit turmoil to try to oust leftist party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has taken the party in a new direction after two consecutive election losses to the Conservatives.
The embattled leader faces a no-confidence vote by his party’s MPs Tuesday, the British press is reporting. As many as 150 of Labour’s 229 MPs could vote to dethrone him, the right-leaning Daily Telegraph reports.
The no-confidence vote comes after a slew of resignations from senior Labour Party members in the days following the referendum results, including key members of his shadow cabinet — the group of senior politicians who mirror government portfolios.
The exodus began when Corbyn booted Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn over the weekend, accused of plotting a coup against the embattled leader.
And the jockeying for power has already begun in Cameron’s Conservative Party — prominent leave campaigner Boris Johnson and Cameron ally Theresa May are seen as the front-runners, while Finance Minister George Osborne has ruled himself out of the running.
Broken promises
Like the markets, Brits are jittery, not knowing who will lead their country come October or whether any of the promises made by the leave camp will even come into fruition.
Leave campaigners are already backpedaling on their promises, and many who voted to leave say they feel cheated, and regret their vote.
Leaders are now trying to allay fears that Britain may be heading for recession and are trying to boost confidence in its markets and currency to avoid an economic meltdown.
Cameron reminded parliament that Britain has “one of the strongest major advanced economies in the world.”
But the country just lost its top AAA credit rating with agency Standard & Poor’s, which measures a country’s ability to meet its financial commitments.
Who’s in charge?
Cameron announced in parliament that a new unit would be established to deal specifically with the EU divorce in what he described as one of the “most complex” tasks assigned to the civil service in decades.
It would bring together members of various bodies and services, including the cabinet office, the foreign office and the Treasury, among others.
Global economic shockwaves
Asian markets got off to a gloomy start early Tuesday as Brexit concerns continued to weigh on investors.
The declines followed a brutal day of trading in Europe and the U.S. on Monday.
The Dow slumped 261 points to the lowest level in over three months. That’s on top of Friday’s plunge that wiped 610 points from the index. The combined loss of nearly 900 points makes the post-Brexit turmoil the worst two-day period for U.S. stocks since the August 2015 freak out.
European stock markets came under heavier pressure and the pound dropped to a fresh low Monday following the U.K.’s historic vote to leave the European Union.
