The English voted out, the Scottish want in, and some Irish are calling for a border poll, but what about those who moved abroad? Sarah Carabott spoke to some expats.
“I’ll believe it when I see it, as I think there is still a possibility that Brexit won’t happen. With David Cameron’s resignation, the election of a new Prime Minister and a non-binding referendum, remaining in the EU is still possible,” Patricia Graham told this newspaper.
Ms Graham noted that “for the good of the country”, politicians could decide not to go ahead with a Brexit.
The founder of Up in Arms, a lobby group of expatriates in Malta, Ms Graham said she had received several panicked messages.
“If it goes ahead, the transition would take at least two years, so expats need to keep in mind that for now – and for a couple more years – they are still EU nationals,” Ms Graham said.
A Scottish national, Ms Graham believes that in case of a Brexit, Scotland would ask for a second independence referendum.
Meanwhile, James Wightman, who has UK and Maltese citizenship, is concerned about pensions.
Some, like himself, paid social contributions in the UK for a number of years and were hoping they would be able to combine that with any pension they worked for here.
A Brexit was also of concern to British expats who were in Malta on the basis of their EU citizenship, he said.
Robert Gilbert-Warsop, from England, is also concerned about the livelihood of expats: “There’s quite an uncertainty of what’s going to happen now. I’d like to remain in Malta, but we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“What’s bothering me is the not knowing and also the fact that a lot of older people made a decision for the younger ones,” Mr Gilbert-Warsop told this newspaper. It was reported yesterday that according to polling data, 75 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds voted to remain in the EU.
But it is not all gloom and doom, and some have managed to make jokes about the result. One Irish social media user commented that the only drawback he saw was that there was no longer going to be EU and non-EU queues, meaning waiting lines were going to become longer at UK airports.