>> this is "bbc world news." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation -- pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and the aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm sunny days, cooling tradewinds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news." >> this is a special edition of comingrld news america," live from america. a sea change in british politics and a decision which sends a decision which sends shockwaves across europe and around the world. britain votes that we've the european union by a margin of well over one million votes. the prime minister, david cameron, came pain hard to remain in the e.u. to step downparing as brinsley to u.s. markets have closed and the financial world is unconvinced by the referendum result. share prices have plunged.

welcome to this special edition of "bbc world news america." has set the country on a different path to the one it has known for four decades. there have been scenes of jubilation among the leaves campaign. before theor calm complicated process comes of disentangling the u.k. from the e.u. the result was close but decide. -- but decisive. 42 decided to leave, 48% to leave. the turnout was high. 72%. our first report is from carol walker. >> this means the u.k. has voted to leave the european union.

there was no hiding the emotion as david cameron with his wife samantha emerged in downing street. prime minister david cameron: the british people had voted to leave the european union and there will must be respected. carol: he had fought and lost the battle to persuade the country to stay in the european union. prime minister cameron: i thought this campaign and the only way i know how, which is to say directly and passionately what i think and feel, head, heart and soul. i held nothing back. but the british people have made a very clear decision to take a different path. as such, i think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction. i will do everything i can as prime minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months. but i do not think it will be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination. carol: from the moments the result started coming in after

midnight, there were big winds for leave. >> the total number of votes cast in favor of leave was 82,000. carol: leave had won a clean sweep across the north of england, and the midlands, the east and west of england. london was the only region of england to support remaining a member of the e.u. the results in flintshire reflected the outcome across wales. voters backed brexit. but northern ireland voted to remain in the e.u. sinn fein says it intensifies the case for a vote on whether northern ireland should leave the united kingdom. and scotland, as expected, voted by a clear majority to stay in the e.u. scotland's first minister said it was democratically unacceptable for it to be taken out of the e.u. against its will. >> scotland -- it is a significant and material change

in circumstances and it is therefore a statement of the obvious that the option of a second referendum must be on the table and it is on the table. carol: at westminster, leave campaigners have been celebrating. nigel farage said she was -- he was thrilled that the decide -- the society decided to break free. >> 11 million people have said we need to leave the european union. we now need a brexit government. a government that gets on with the job, a government that begins the renegotiation of our trade relationship. carol: boris johnson struggled through the throng at his home and then pay tribute to the prime minister. >> i believe we have a glorious opportunity. we can pass our laws and set our taxes entirely according to the needs of the u.k. economy.

we can control our own borders and a way that is not discriminatory, that's fair and balanced, and take the wind out of the sails of the extremists and those who would play politics with immigration. carol: in the city, the pound fell dramatically, despite all the attempts at reassurance from political leaders and the bank of england, which promised to take whatever measures necessary to support the economy. and there are now questions over the future of the labour leader who has been blamed for a lackluster campaign to remain in the e.u., which failed to convince supporters. >> clearly there are some difficult days ahead. the pound has already fallen. and there will, therefore, be job consequences as a result of this decision. >> the prime minister has resigned, can you give us a reaction? carol: two labour mp's have came -- have given a --

have table the motion of no-confidence in mr. corbyn. >> i think jeremy corbyn should resign. this is a test of leadership. he started too late. he was very halfhearted in the leadership he gave to labour. carol: a momentous day. for britain, for europe, as the country embarks on a new and uncertain future outside the e.u. and under a different leader. >> that is what happened in britain. there has been in a store near him out of interest in this result around the world, including in washington, d.c. i spoke earlier to u.s. state department spokesman john kirby. the white house weighed in very firmly in favor of britain's staying in the european union. so how is the white house now

saying that nothing effectively changes in the relationship? aboutn when we talked what are hopeful outcome was earlier, we talked about the strength of the special relationship with the u.k., and we always believed it would stay the same. that would stay as strong. we believe that now going forward. one of the great things about having a special relationship such as that we enjoy with the u.k. is that we can have candid conversations and express our hopes, our expectations and the president did that. we did that, the u.s. government. the british people now have made a choice. and it is a choice that is an outcome that neither of our two governments preferred, but it is the outcome. and what is important now is going forward we have to continue to make sure that special relationship just remains just as strong and vibrant and just as importantly that we continue to work with our e.u. partners going forward because there is an awful lot of growth and a velvet security -- development and security issues we need to continue to work with the e.u.

what are the things that will really matter in the relationship, and in terms of foreign policy, national security, when not having britain at the table when you are talking to the european union could be affected? >> first of all, the u.k. is obviously a key nato ally. inside the alliance, they punch above their weight. we work closely across a range of security commitments around the world. we expect that partnership, that bilateral partnership will continue and will continue inside mayo. -- inside nato. i do not think there is a major concern there. i also think everyone has reason to expect, that even though the u.k. will move outside of the e.u., two things, it will take a while. two, there will be a lot of dialogue as they do that. we are going to be part of that conversation. we will not be part of the negotiations, but we will monitor this closely and stay in touch with our u.k. counterparts and the e.u. counterparts.

to increase the level of communication throughout. we are not too worried about the fact that in security related issues, that the u.k. may not be at the table. they will be at the table and so many other multilateral fora that that is not a major concern. >> let's play what-if. we face the prospect of scotland holding a referendum on independence. northern ireland doing the same. it is wales and england. does that not change anything? >> i won't get into hypotheticals. those are issues that the citizens of the u.k. have to debate and discuss and we are going to respect that as well. i will not hypothesize. what i can tell you is that, while there are changes afoot, no question, what will not change is our commitment to the special relationship to the u.k. we do not see that changing. we are going to stay as

connected, stay as commutative as possible as they work through -- as communicative as possible as they work through what these changes mean. john kirby at the state department. there is been a decided effort on both sides of the atlantic to calm things down, to say they will not be a change in the special relationship. the conversations i have had as recently as last week with senior white house officials, it was clear they were expecting britain to remain in the european union. it is also what they hoped for. so, what are the ramifications for britain's role in the world? and for its relationship with america? a short time ago i was joined by uary, he wasl jana the uk's ambassador to washington. we had john kirby saying nothing

changes in the special relationship. washington will still have london as its port of call. is that right? >> i think the special relationship will remain strong. not wish tot did receive us leave the european union. he made that pretty clear when he was here in the spring. great deal ofis a substance and content to the relationship between united states and united kingdom in defense, trade and like mindedness and so one which will not change. nevertheless, the fact that we are not going to be part of the european union, we are not going to be with like-minded significant member states as part of the european union, makes a difference in international, foreign and security. over time this will have an effect. >> you are now out of the diplomatic service. what was your reaction to this result? >> i confess i was surprised. i thought we were going to squeak through. i say "we," i meant to remain

cam. i try to make the case for staying. it was a mistake to leave. but i sense that it was going to be ok. the markets at midnight, half past 12:00 this morning were still saying we were staying in the european union. so, when i welcome to the -- when i woke up to the confirmation we were not, i was rather shocked. i spent another day asked myself, what does that mean for a country that spent 40 years serving? how are we going to continue to ensure that we attract the major investments from overseas which we have had for so many years because of the reality of this port of entry to the single market? i think some of those investments will dry up. i know from having spoken to a number of foreign investors that they will longer wish to have their european headquarters in the u.k. if they are not part of the single market. >> does the britain you served as envoy to paris, istanbul, washington, now on the world stage, i'm thinking of what

happens in northern ireland and scotland if they hold referenda to leave, does it seem a diminished country? >> it doesn't yet, to me. we are a country that has and extorted amount of knowledge. an extraordinary amount of knowledge. we have some baggage, which is critical, and some of it is posited we have relationships, and understanding which is still important. many people from all over from the world stage? to me, why not get more engaged you will never understand where -- you were low understand -- you alone understand. stock in trade, their expectations the united kingdom will continue to deploy. we will still be a member of nato, the commonwealth, and so on. if scotland does on the back of this referendum does choose to go which is clearly a possibility, if things change on the island of ireland, then we will be a diminished country. it will not be the same thing. at the moment, however, we are still being united kingdom.

we have not left the european union. we will have to work even harder to ensure that we are taken seriously, and we have an impact for good in a way that i like to believe we have had for many, many years. >> do you see a ripple, domino effect? >> i do. my friends in france, germany and elsewhere, i stay in touch with many of them, were wary before the referendum this could be the beginning of a slippery slope, because it is not only in britain that public opinion is angry, fed up with the political establishment and the elites and the european institutions. the euro skepticism and many member states. if we vote to leave, some of them are saying, there is a risk we will do so, too. so, it is not going to happen tomorrow. maybe not at all. the political leaders need to understand that in america as in britain and all over the western democracies there is a level of distrust and disillusionment, and the rest of europe has to address that, too. >> clearly a wake-up call to political leaders on both sides of the atlantic.

this was a political earthquake today. but it was all so seismic on financial markets. around the world, they reacted badly to the referendum result. the pound plunged to its lowest level since 1985. shares in asia, europe and the u.s. also took the kids as the financial world appear to be -- took big hits as the financial world seemed to be unconvinced at the moment by the uk's decision to leave the e.u. for more on economic impact, i spoke to muhammad ali area and al-arian the chair of president obama's global department counsel. he joined me from california. the markets responded clearly with some dismay to britain's decision to leave the european union. is this a blip or long-term financial turmoil what we are looking at triggered by this referendum result? mohammed: it is long-term. those that argued for a blip believed that the remain camp

would win. markets do not do well when everything is in play. we are talking about economics, politics, and finance. what we're going to see is a much higher risk premium, a lot more volatility. and markets are going to be keen to know what is going to replace e.u. membership? will there be an association agreement, or not? i think this is a fundamental shift. >> people in the leave campaign have argued all along that britain will be better off economically if it pulls out of the european union. would markets take that into account do you think and rally on the prospect perhaps of higher growth in the u.k.? mohammed: you can make an argument that eventually britain will be better off. eventually is very important. markets tend to trade short-term. let's not also forget that there

are a lot of positions that have to be forced selling in the next few days. the eventually bit is not going to call markets in the next few weeks. it may do so over time, but importantly, these markers will -- markets will want to know what is the u.k.'s new relationship with the west of europe, and what will happen to the u.k. itself? these are fundamental uncertainties, and they are coming on top of economic fragility for the global economy, plus financial fluidity. >> mohammed, we heard from roz atkins about the political back story to this referendum and to this result. what is the economic back story? because i am hearing and feeling echoes of the anti-globalization movement that has swept through the united kingdom and the united states as well. is it too big a leap to make to say we are in a mood where people want change from the economic status quote?

-- stautus quo? mohammed: oh , absolutely not. that is the case. people have lost trust in the establishment. they have lost trust in the business elite and in the politicians. and they have lost trust and for good reason. if you were in the western economies at low growth for a long time, the new normal which we have done, and if the benefits of that growth goes to a small segment of the population that is already better off, then strange things start to happen. and this is not the first range thing. we already have -- this is not the first strange think it we already have negative interest rates on 30% of global government debt. that is an absurd notion, the notion you lend money and pay for the privilege. it has become a reality. brexit has become reality. mr. trump has become reality. and the longer we continue

running these sophisticated economies at low growth and worsening inequality, the longer the list of improbables become reality. katty: mohammed al-erian. britain will be the first state northern ireland voted to stay in the european union. at the decision taken by the rest of the u.k. now does raise questions of what happens to border control each we northern ireland and the republic of ireland. we examine that issue. reporter: the army used to call this bandit country, the borderlands of south arma. i reported here during the troubles, it was a place of blocked roads. >> you can't come down this way. the road is closed. reporter: of ambushes and watchtowers. but political compromise and e.u. money helped to change the

landscape of the guns vanished. the security bases close. d. peace process, the physical manifestations, the huge security presence along the border is no longer necessary. but, because of brexit, the irish republic now become this country's land border with europe. with unknown political and economic applications. still dead are invoked to support sinn fein's campaign for united are located they seized on the brexit vote to say that time had come. >> we have always felt we are stronger. we can attract investors. and people need to sit down and look at -- reporter: an economic rather than nationalist argument? >> it is both. reporter: close to the border,

farmer has bitter memories. 10 of his neighbors were killed in a sectarian massacre nearby. prosperity and peace should have made him a remain voter, but he is glad to be rid of red tape he says. >> we're told there is going to be a lot of money available. we are not putting them into the e.u. coffers. but i do not think the troubles, i couldn't see any connection between the two things? >> we have sinn fein calling for a referendum on the border. >> i'd think we'd rather be as we are. and not be alienated. that is cap and people as well as protestants. every mix of people and a lot of people don't want anything to do with it. it was always an ambitious notions that has been part -- being part of your point soften ulter's battle of

identities -- ulster's battle of identities. but the e.u. played an important role in supporting peace, not least with money. where an army base one stood on the north belfast peace line, it built this cross community center. for young people who lead summer camps for mixed group of catholic and protestant children. what do you feel about what is happened? >> well, i feel it's an absolute shame. our whole future of young people is just, it's not going to be what it was supposed to be. reporter: there will not be a soon but inanytime political uncertainty, the delicate balance here can be easily upset. the ramifications of this vote are being felt far and wide.

let's take a look back at the key moments in a dale that -- a day that has changed britain and its relationship with the world. decision taken in 1975 by this country to join the common market has been reversed by this referendum to leave the e.u. >> i've got my country back! i want to keep it. >> i feel like someone has kicked me in the stomach. europe is not perfect. but we try to influence from within and from without. >> 17 million people have said we must leave the european union. we now need a brexit government. prime minister cameron: the british people have decided to take a different path. i think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction. >> i thought we would have stayed in. very disappointed with the outcome. >> this is britain. we are great britain. that is what we do.

we have been around a long time and we will sort it out like we always do. >> that's it for me. this is our england. this is our england. ♪ inty: this is a big moment britain's history and the watchword of today is uncertainty, but one thing is clear and it has become apparent as i have been covering this referendum is that this is a very divided country. divided along geographic lines, also divided along generational lines. older brits tended to vote to leave. tended to vote to stay in the european union. the challenge, whoever is the next leader of this country, will be to try to unify the united kingdom. to heal those wounds which are still very real. that brings this special covers

to a close pretty can find out more on the british decision to leave the european union on her website or at from all of us at "bbc world news america," thanks for watching. have a great weekend. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good, kovler foundation -- pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs, and aruba tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here, in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm sunny days,

cooling tradewinds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good eveng. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> the sun has risen on an independent united kingdom. >> woodruff: a vote that's rocked the world. we're in london to hear what drove britain to leave the european union. >> the desire to leave was expressed strongest in the working class neighborhoods we visited, where residents felt beaten down by globalization. >> woodruff: financial markets plunge in reaction. what brexit means for the global economy. and it's friday. mark shields and david brooks analyze what britain's split may say about the mood of american voters. all that, on tonight's pbs newshour.