DHAKA: Britain should only trigger Article 50 to leave the EU when it has a ‘clear view’ of how its future in the bloc looks, finance minister George Osborne said following last week’s shock referendum.

The surprise decision to leave the EU sparked the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron, who had backed the unsuccessful Remain campaign - but has left the activation of Article 50, which triggers the departure, to his successor.

‘The prime minister has given us time as a country to decide what that relationship should be by delaying the decision to trigger the Article 50 procedure until there is a new prime minister in place for the autumn,’ Osborne said on Monday, in his first public comments since the result, reports Al Jazeera.

Article 50 is a five-point plan should any country wish to leave the EU.

The remarks, given at a Treasury news conference in central London, were timed to calm investor jitters ahead of the opening of European stock markets at 07:00 GMT.

The London stock market opened down by 0.8 percent, however. The pound sank to fresh 30-year lows.

‘Only the UK can trigger Article 50, and in my judgment we should only do that when there is a clear view about what new arrangement we are seeking with our European neighbors,’ he added.

‘In the meantime, and during the negotiations that will follow, there will be no change to people's rights to travel and work, and to the way our goods and services are traded, or to the way our economy and financial system is regulated.’

Al Jazeera’s Laurence Lee, reporting from London, said, ‘Effectively, there is not a functioning government in this country. Everybody wants to know what the Leave group has planned. None of that will become clearer until the next leadership contest has happened’.

BDST: 1617 HRS, JUN 27, 2016
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