Brexit: What next after the UK's leave vote?

Former Tory MP and Leave campaigner Christopher Gill says the referendum result means David Cameron must now step down from his position as Prime Minister.

"So, to the acute embarrassment of our Prime Minister, the people have spoken!

As to to the effects of their collective decision the most dramatic and immediate consequence is/will be a new face at the head of Government.

Having identified himself so very closely and personally with the 'Remain' side, it will not be tenable for David Cameron to stay on at Number 10.

Maybe, by announcing prior to the last General Election that he would not be seeking re-election in 2020, this was an outcome that Cameron had anticipated but, be that as it may, his future in politics is, to use the modern idiom, toast!

The question now is, what happens next?

Prior to the passing of the Fixed Term Parliament Act it would have been axiomatic that the dramatic outcome of yesterday's vote would have inevitably triggered a fresh General Election.

Having been defeated on a flagship policy the PM would have been obliged to go to Buckingham Palace to seek the Queen's permission to prorogue (dissolve) Parliament and to authorise the calling of a General Election.

Given that this Parliament still has four more years to run, the greater likelihood is that the Conservative Parliamentary Party will accept Cameron's resignation as their Leader or, if push comes to shove, send him packing.

Then the fraught process of selecting his successor will begin in.

In the meantime, pending the result of a contest for the Conservative Party leadership, my guess is that nothing much will happen.

Obviously the EU will have got the message that we're intent upon leaving but until a new PM is installed it seems unlikely that the UK will be able to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

In due course this will be the means by which we serve notice on the European Commission that we intend to leave, but for up to two years, or more if mutually agreed, our trading relationship with the other 27 EU member states will remain unchanged.

During the course of those potentially two years or more of negotiations we will learn what the future holds – whether, for example, it will be a future within the European Free Trade Area (EFTA) that we left in order to join what was then called the Common Market in 1972; or a future within the European Economic Area (EEA); or a future as a totally independent trading nation, cutting its own trade deals around the globe with the ability to assist the Third World by offering them freer trade, as opposed to financial aid, as a means of them too benefiting from our welcome release from the sclerotic and failing EU customs union which currently does them no favours by imposing import tariffs upon their exports.

Then there are the 53 countries of the British Commonwealth – an organisation that Her Majesty the Queen has so diligently and patiently fostered – whose histories, cultures, legal systems, democratic institutions, not to mention language, more closely mirror our own than any one of the continental countries whose political union we have finally and irrevocably chosen not to be a continuing part of.

So, in a sentence, it's goodbye European Union and hello World!"

Former Labour councillor helped lead Shropshire's Remain campaign Bill McClements explains why today's result is bad for Britain and Europe.

"The people have spoken. The decision is made. There is no going back.

I wish it were different.

I fear that all our warnings about the consequences of leaving the EU will come to pass.

I anticipate that even as you read this article, the markets are rocking and the pound is falling.

I fear that in the coming days, investment in our economy will begin to dry up and that within weeks, people will start losing their jobs and families their livelihoods.

I fear that within months, our NHS and the rest of our public services will feel the pinch like never before as Treasury revenues diminish.

I fear that the Government, headed by a Prime Minister who has been humiliated by his own colleagues, is already in freefall and that we will face weeks of indecision at the very time when strong and steady leadership is needed.

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I fear that only when their coup is completed will we really appreciate how shallow and self-serving are those who exploited this referendum to feed their personal ambitions.

I fear that in the coming months we will see just how hollow were the promises of the Brexit campaign as we struggle to negotiate with our former trading partners and as the migrants continue to arrive.

I fear that we are today a smaller nation than we have ever been, that we have turned our backs on our friends and partners and on our responsibilities in the world.

I fear that the English have handed to the Scots the strongest argument for quitting the union and pledging their future to Europe. I fear that within a generation, the United Kingdom will be no more.

I fear that if xenophobia and misplaced nationalism can win the day here in Britain, so it can in the United States come November. I fear that these will be troubled times – times of division and tension at home and abroad.

But I have been in politics a long time. I lived through times when it seemed that there would never be another Labour government.

But, along with thousands of others, I stuck to my values and worked all the harder for what I believed in. Sometimes you win; sometimes you lose.

So, deeply disappointed though I am this morning, I know that all over the country people like me will be committing themselves today to do all they can to avert the disasters that otherwise might befall us.

We have to recognise that we have lost the argument.

We have to respect the decision. I hope that those whose views triumphed will understand the need to unite our nation, the need to deliver the benefits they claimed.

And that those who have lost will recognise that they still have a key role to play in national affairs, we need unity and common purpose.

We need to do all we can to ensure that my fears are not realised.

There is no going back. We have chosen our path.

We have to go forward – and together."