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QUESTION TIME Now that Britain has voted to exit (Brexit) the European Union or EU, what does it matter to Malaysia if at all? That would depend on how the rest of the world will be affected by the move, starting with Britain itself, the EU and global ripple effects it would create.

It is curious that among the four components of Britain - Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England - two voted for Brexit in the national referendum and two against.

Scotland, which itself had a referendum in September 2014 on whether to remain part of Britain - it opted to remain by 55.3 to 44.7% - voted by an overwhelming 62% to 38% to stay in the EU. Now Scots may want another referendum on whether to stay in Britain or not.

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon was quoted as having said that it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland may have to leave the EU when they opted to stay in Britain and that a second referendum on whether to leave Britain is highly likely.

Northern Ireland, which voted to stay in the EU by 55.8% to 44.2%, faces similar problems with its Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness talking about a vote on the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. However Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has ruled out the call from Sinn Féin (a long-standing organisation dedicated to uniting Northern Ireland with Ireland) for a poll, saying the circumstances in which one could be called did not exist.

England did not vote as strongly to leave the EU as either Scotland or Northern Ireland to stay, voting in favour of Brexit by 53.4 to 46.6%, as did Wales, with 52.5% of the vote for leaving and 47.5% remaining. It is of note that London voted 59.9% to 40.1% to stay, only eclipsed by Scotland in terms of support for staying in the EU. This led some Londoners to call for a referendum among them to exit the UK!

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