Brexit: David Cameron to quit after UK votes to leave EU

Prime Minister David Cameron is to step down by October after the UK voted to leave the European Union.

Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, he said he would attempt to "steady the ship" over the coming weeks and months but that "fresh leadership" was needed.

The PM had urged the country to vote Remain but was defeated by 52% to 48% despite London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backing staying in.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage hailed it as the UK's "independence day".

The pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985 as the markets reacted to the results.

Flanked by his wife Samantha, Mr Cameron said he had informed the Queen of his decision to remain in place for the short term and to then hand over to a new prime minister by the time of the Conservative conference in October.

It would be for the new prime minister to carry out negotiations with the EU and invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which would give the UK two years to negotiate its withdrawal, he said.

"The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected," said Mr Cameron. "The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered."

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said UK banks' "substantial capital and huge liquidity" allowed them to continue to lend to businesses and households.

The Bank of England is ready to provide an extra £250bn of support, he added.

The referendum turnout was 71.8% - with more than 30 million people voting - the highest turnout at a UK-wide vote since 1992.

Mr Farage - who has campaigned for the past 20 years for Britain to leave the EU - told cheering supporters "this will be a victory for ordinary people, for decent people".

Pro-Leave Conservatives including Boris Johnson and Michael Gove - who are both likely to be among contenders to be the party's next leader and therefore PM - had signed a letter to Mr Cameron overnight urging him to stay on whatever the result.

Mr Johnson made no comment as he left his London home where a large crowd had gathered.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who called for the UK to remain in the EU but was accused of a lukewarm campaign, said poorer communities were "fed up" with cuts and felt "marginalised by successive governments".

"Clearly there are some very difficult days ahead," he said, adding that "there will be job consequences as a result of this decision".

He said the point he had made during the campaign was that "there were good things" about the EU but also "other things that had not been addressed properly".

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said Labour's leader had been "utterly gutless" in making the case for remaining in.

Former Labour Europe Minister Keith Vaz said the EU should call an emergency summit to deal with the aftermath of the vote, which he described as "catastrophic for our country, for the rest of Europe and for the rest of the world".

Germany's foreign minister Frank Walter Steinmeier described the referendum result as as "a sad day for Europe and Great Britain".

But Leave supporting Tory MP Liam Fox said voters had shown great "courage" by deciding to "change the course of history" for the UK and, he hoped, the rest of Europe.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that the EU vote "makes clear that the people of Scotland see their future as part of the European Union" after all 32 local authority areas returned majorities for Remain.

Britain is set to be the first country to leave the EU since its formation - but the Leave vote does not immediately mean Britain ceases to be a member of the 28-nation bloc.

That process could take a minimum of two years, with Leave campaigners suggesting during the referendum campaign that it should not be completed until 2020 - the date of the next scheduled general election.

Once Article 50 has been triggered a country can not rejoin without the consent of all member states.

Mr Cameron previously said he would trigger Article 50 as soon as possible after a Leave vote but Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who led the campaign to get Britain out of the EU have said he should not rush into it.

They also said they wanted to make immediate changes before the UK actually leaves the EU, such as curbing the power of EU judges and limiting the free movement of workers, potentially in breach of the UK's treaty obligations.

The government will also have to negotiate its future trading relationship with the EU and fix trade deals with non-EU countries.

In Whitehall and Westminster, there will now begin the massive task of unstitching the UK from more than 40 years of EU law, deciding which directives and regulations to keep, amend or ditch.

The Leave campaign argued during a bitter four-month referendum campaign that the only way Britain could "take back control" of its own affairs would be to leave the EU.

Leave dismissed warnings from economists and international bodies about the economic impact of Brexit as "scaremongering" by a self-serving elite.

The UK's vote to leave the EU has sparked demands from far-right parties for referendums in other member states.

France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen said the French must now also have the right to choose.

Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders said the Netherlands deserved a "Nexit" vote while Italy's Northern League said: "Now it's our turn".

The UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU after 43 years. David Cameron has announced he will step down as PM.

Global stock markets fell heavily on the news and the value of the pound has also fallen dramatically.

The European parliament has called a special session for next Tuesday.

Analysts say EU politicians will fear a domino effect from Brexit that could threaten the whole organisation.

Ms Le Pen hailed the UK vote, placing a union jack flag on her Twitter page and tweeting: "Victory for freedom. As I've been saying for years, we must now have the same referendum in France and other EU countries."

She is the front-runner among candidates for the presidential election in 2017 but opinion polls suggest she would lose a run-off vote.

Last Friday, Ms Le Pen had told a gathering of far-right parties in Vienna: "France has possibly 1,000 more reasons to want to leave the EU than the English."

She said the EU was responsible for high unemployment and failing to keep out "smugglers, terrorists and economic migrants".

Mr Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, said in a statement: "We want to be in charge of our own country, our own money, our own borders, and our own immigration policy.

"As quickly as possible the Dutch need to get the opportunity to have their say about Dutch membership of the European Union."

The Netherlands faces a general election in March and some opinion polls suggest Mr Wilders is leading. A recent Dutch survey suggested 54% of the people wanted a referendum.

Mateo Salvini, the leader of Italy's anti-immigration Northern League, tweeted: "Hurrah for the courage of free citizens! Heart, brain and pride defeated lies, threats and blackmail.

"THANK YOU UK, now it's our turn."

The populist Danish People's Party, which wants renegotiation with the EU, hailed a "courageous" decision by the British, but also said that everyone should "keep their heads".

Reacting to the vote, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said "the EU is dying".

But Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, said this was "not a moment for hysterical reactions".

He said he was "determined to keep our unity as 27" members, adding that: "Until the UK formally leaves the EU, EU law will continue to apply to and within the UK, and by this I mean rights as well as obligations."

European Parliament President Martin Schulz denied Brexit would trigger a domino effect, saying the EU was "well-prepared".

But Beatrix von Storch, of Germany's Eurosceptic AfD party, praising "Independence Day for Great Britain", demanded that Mr Schulz and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker resign.

"The European Union has failed as a political union," she said.

Shares and pound plunge on Leave vote

The London stock market has plunged in the wake of the UK's referendum vote to leave the EU.

In the opening minutes of trade, the FTSE 100 index fell more than 8% before regaining some ground by mid-morning.

Banks were hard hit, with Barclays and RBS falling about 30%, although they later pared losses to about 17%.

Earlier, the pound fell dramatically as the referendum outcome emerged. At one stage, it hit $1.3236, a fall of more than 10% and a low not seen since 1985.

The Bank of England said it was "monitoring developments closely" and would take "all necessary steps" to support monetary stability.

"This is simply unprecedented, the pound has fallen off a cliff and the FTSE is now following suit," said Dennis de Jong, managing director of UFX.com.

"Britain's EU referendum has been a cloud hanging over the global economy for the past few months and that cloud has got very dark this morning.

"The markets despise uncertainty, yet that is exactly what they're faced with this morning. The shockwaves are likely to reverberate for some time and the warning lights are flashing brighter now than ever."

The FTSE's slump was its biggest one-day fall since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in October 2008.

As well as the banks, the housebuilding sector was also badly hit, with shares in Bovis Homes down more than 50%.

UK government bond yields hit a new record low, with 10-year yields down more than 30 basis points to 1.018%, according to Reuters data.

Two-year yields fell more than 20 basis points to their lowest levels since mid-2013, at 0.233%.

The impact of the vote was also felt in other European countries. The Paris and Frankfurt indexes were both down about 8% at one point, while the Swiss central bank intervened on the money markets to steady the Swiss franc after it appreciated in value.

Oil prices have also fallen sharply in the wake of the referendum outcome, with Brent crude down 5.2%.

The price of Brent crude fell by $2.68 to $48.24 a barrel, its biggest fall since February. At the same time, US crude was down 5.4%, or $2.69, to $47.52 a barrel.

The price of gold jumped nearly 7% to $1,348.27 an ounce as investors sought a haven in turbulent markets.