Brexit: UK government shifts to damage control in Brexit turmoil

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British Prime Minister David Cameron said: “The British government will not be triggering Article 50 at this stage.” He said that Britain would have to establish its new relationship with the European Union before doing so and that it would be up to the next prime minister and cabinet to decide.
“Tomorrow is an opportunity — we are leaving the EU but cannot turn our backs on Europe or the world,” Cameron said.
Not since World War II has Britain faced such an uncertain future.
A vote last week to pull out of the European Union has left Britain with a nasty hangover, sending the currency spiraling, dampening markets, creating a leadership vacuum and triggering talks of Scottish secession from Britain, forcing the government into damage control.
Like the markets Brits are jittery, not knowing who will lead their country when Prime Minister David Cameron steps down in October or whether any of the promises made by the leave camp will even come into fruition.
Leave campaigners claimed, for example, that leaving the European Union would save Britain £350 million a week, money that could be poured into the country’s stretched National Health Service. Now they are saying they can’t guarantee that would actually happen.
Brexit’s broken promises: Health care, immigration and the economy
In fact, nothing will change until Britain invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which it needs to do to get the ball rolling on its EU divorce. It will need the the British parliament behind it, and with Cameron’s resignation, it is unclear whether he will make the announcement to the EU or leave it to his successor.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU would not entertain talks until the article was invoked.
“We cannot start some sort of informal talks without having received the notice from Great Britain. This is very clear to me,” she told journalists in Berlin on Monday.
The opposition Labour Party is not doing much better at giving the British people any certainty. Leader Jeremy Corbyn is dealing with his own Brexit crisis, announcing 10 new senior positions Monday after a flurry of resignations over the weekend. The exodus came after he sacked a key party member accused of plotting a coup.

 

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