Brexit The Observer EU governments pile pressure on UK to leave as soon as possible Six founding member states demand earliest start to Brexit process, but they cannot compel UK to invoke article 50 The foreign ministers of the EU’s founding states in Berlin on Saturday. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/EPA 
 
 EU governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the union as soon as possible, saying talks on the exit must begin promptly and urging that a new British prime minister is installed quickly. 
 
 What is Article 50 and why is it so central to the Brexit debate? Read more 
 
 As Europe scrambled on Saturday to limit the damage from the momentous Brexit vote, however, there seemed little it could immediately do to force Britain to speed up the pace of its departure from the 60-year-old bloc. 
 
 Meeting for emergency talks in Berlin, foreign ministers from the EU’s six founding member states demanded the earliest possible start to the Brexit process. 
 
 France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Britain must trigger article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, the procedure for leaving the EU. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault. Photograph: Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 There was “a certain urgency”, Ayrault said after the meeting with his counterparts from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, adding that David Cameron should step aside soon for a new leader to manage the transition out of the union. 
 
 “A new prime minister must be designated, that will take a few days,” he said, adding that it would “not be respectful” to delay the process. 
 
 On Friday, Cameron had said he would delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor was in place in the autumn. 
 
 The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the ministers “join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible, so we don’t end up in an extended limbo period”. 
 
 Steinmeier told a press conference at the German foreign ministry guesthouse on the outskirts of Berlin that Cameron had a “responsibility beyond the UK” to initiate formal steps for Britain’s exit and “give us a chance to engage with the European Union’s future … we call on Britain to trigger article 50 as soon as possible.” 
 
 Earlier, the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said the British had voted to leave and “it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure”. 
 
 Juncker, who said Britain’s departure would not be “an amicable divorce” but observed it was never “a tight love affair anyway”, said he would “like to get started immediately”. 
 
 Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said he hoped “we won’t get into a cat and mouse game over this. That would neither be fitting for Britain nor the European Union.” 
 
 Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister, said at a Paris debate on Europe that the top priority was to arrange a “smooth, rapid and very well-organised” UK exit, adding: “We have to be organised, and we don’t have to wait for months and months. Now we need a quick fix on this situation.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Emmanuel Macron, centre, speaks during a symposium at the Institute of Political Science in Paris on Saturday. Photograph: Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 In Brussels, the office of Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said Didier Seeuws, a Belgian aide to Tusk’s predecessor, Herman Van Rompuy, would head the union’s taskforce to negotiate Britain’s exit from the union and had started on the preparatory work. 
 
 The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, speaking separately at a news conference in Potsdam, saidit “shouldn’t take forever” for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the EU, but she “would not fight over a short period of time”. 
 
 EU referendum: Pro-Brexit MEP admits free movement of labour may not end – live Read more 
 
 Making it clear that the matter was ultimately in London’s hands, Merkel said there was “no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations. They must be conducted properly.” 
 
 Much as the EU might like Britain to go fast, there are few legal means to compel it to start the process of leaving. 
 
 “There is no mechanism to compel a state to withdraw from the European Union,” said Kenneth Armstrong, professor of European law at Cambridge University. 
 
 “Article 50 is there to allow withdrawal, but no other party has the right to invoke article 50, no other state or institution. While delay is highly undesirable politically, legally there is nothing that can compel a state to withdraw.” 
 
 Article 7 of the Lisbon treaty can be used to suspend a member state for breaching fundamental EU rights, but it is considered a “nuclear option”, and Britain has done nothing to warrant it. 
 
 The shock waves from Thursday’s vote continue to spread, having already driven sterling down to its lowest level for 30 years and wiping more than $2tn (£1.5tn) from the value of world stock markets. 
 
 Britain’s European commissioner, Jonathan Hill, announced on Saturday that he would resign, saying he did not “believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened”. 
 
 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Britain’s EU commissioner, Jonathan Hill. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters 
 
 Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, was expected in Paris to meet the French president, François Hollande, who said on Saturday that Europe had to offer people “a perspective” in the face of mounting populism. 
 
 “It is always easier to unmake than make, but the consequences are extremely serious,” he said on a visit to the eastern French city of Colmar. 
 
 The flurry of diplomatic activity came ahead of a key meeting in Berlin on Monday between Merkel, Hollande, Renzi and Tusk. 
 
 The EU’s 28 commissioners are also due to meet on Monday, in Brussels, with a two-day summit of national leaders following on Tuesday and Wednesday. 
 
 With Euroscepticism on the rise across the continent, many have said the Brexit vote must be seen as a wake-up call for a union increasingly losing touch with its people. 
 
 Cameron will attend the first day of the summit and is expected to explain Britain’s position at a dinner on Tuesday evening. He will then return to London and will not take part in the second day of the proceedings, according to Tusk’s invitation letter released on Friday night. 
 
 
 
 Cameron’s position is that it would be up to his successor, expected to be appointed before the Conservative party conference in October, to trigger article 50. Once that is done, the clock starts running on two years of negotiations. 
 
 Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading leave campaigner, said there should be “no haste” in the preparations for the exit of Britain, the first sovereign country to vote to leave the union. 
 
 The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50. 
 
 He said it was difficult to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”, adding that he doubted the timing of article 50 was down to the UK alone. 
 
 “We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word,” he said. ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption People gathered to protest outside the Houses of Parliament following the leave result 
 
 More than 2.5 million people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum, after the vote to leave. 
 
 It has more signatures than any other on the parliamentary website and as it has passed 100,000, Parliament will consider it for a debate. 
 
 Editor's note: The following day, the House of Commons petitions committee said it was investigating allegations of fraud in connection with the petition and had already removed 77,000 signatories - and was monitoring it for further suspicious activity. 
 
 The UK voted to leave the EU by 52% to 48% in Thursday's referendum but the majority of voters in London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed Remain. 
 
 David Cameron has previously said there will be no second referendum. 
 
 On Friday he said he would stand down as prime minister by October following the leave result. 
 
 A House of Commons spokeswoman said the petition was created on 24 May. There were 22 signatures on it at the time the referendum result was announced. 
 
 She said the petition site had temporarily gone down at one point following "exceptionally high volumes of simultaneous users on a single petition, significantly higher than on any previous occasion". 
 
 Raise profile 
 
 The petition's website states it was set up by an individual called William Oliver Healey, and says: "We the undersigned call upon HM Government to implement a rule that if the Remain or Leave vote is less than 60%, based on a turnout less than 75%, there should be another referendum." 
 
 Thursday saw a 72.2% turnout, significantly higher than the 66.1% turnout at last year's general election, but below the 75% mark suggested by Mr Healey as a threshold. 
 
 The Scottish independence referendum in 2014 had a turnout of 84.6% - but there has not been a turnout above 75% at any general election since 1992. 
 
 A debate in Parliament is a good way to raise the profile of an issue with law makers but it does not automatically follow that there will be a change in the law. 
 
 Analysis 
 
 Image copyright UK Government 
 
 By Iain Watson, political correspondent 
 
 The fact that more than one and a half million people have signed a petition calling for a second EU referendum has attracted a lot of attention - but it has zero chance of being enacted. 
 
 The main reason is that it is asking for retrospective legislation. It suggests another referendum is required because the winning side got less than 60% of the vote, and there was less than a 75% turnout. 
 
 You can have thresholds in referendums. 
 
 The 1979 referendum to set up a Scottish parliament failed because a clause was inserted in to the legislation requiring more than 40% of all eligible voters - not just those taking part - to agree to devolution before it took place. 
 
 But that clause came in advance - everyone was clear about the rules. You can't simply invent new hurdles if you are on the losing side. 
 
 The other reason is that if a petition gets more than 100,000 signatures it can then - with the agreement of a committee of MPs - be debated in Parliament, but there is no legal obligation to act on it. 
 
 However, there is talk around Westminster- in the wake of a plunging currency and falling share prices - of whether any deal on Brexit negotiated with the EU should then be put to a referendum further down the line. 
 
 The UK will remain an EU member for the next two years at least - so it's not over until it's over. 
 
 Some would greet this with horror and cries of 'foul' - others with relief. 
 
 UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who has campaigned for the UK to leave the EU throughout his political career, said in May that a narrow win for Remain could cause unstoppable demand for a rerun of the referendum. 
 
 He said at the time that a result that saw Remain win by 52% to 48% would mean "unfinished business by a long way". 
 
 But Mr Cameron has said the referendum was a "once in a generation, once in a lifetime" decision, saying the UK had "referendums not neverendums". 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption David Cameron said he would step down as prime minister after the UK voted to leave the EU 
 
 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also rejected the idea of a second referendum, saying: "We have got to accept that decision." 
 
 Labour MP for Tottenham David Lammy later tweeted that people could "stop this madness through a vote in Parliament". 
 
 He said there should be a vote in the Commons next week on whether the UK goes forward with Brexit. 
 
 'Make divorce official' 
 
 The parliamentary petitions system is overseen by the Petitions Committee, which considers whether petitions that receive more than 100,000 signatures should be raised in the House of Commons and debated. 
 
 The committee is due to sit again on Tuesday. 
 
 In a separate petition more than 100,000 people have called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to declare the English capital independent from the UK and apply to join the EU. 
 
 Across all 33 boroughs in London 59.9% of people voted to stay in the EU, with the Remain vote more than 70% in some boroughs. 
 
 The page, set up by James O'Malley, states: "London is an international city, and we want to remain at the heart of Europe. Let's face it - the rest of the country disagrees... let's make the divorce official and move in with our friends on the continent." 
 
 Mr Khan has said he has no doubt London will "continue to be the successful city" but called for the UK to remain part of the single market. 
 
 Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the leading Leave campaigners and the bookmakers' odds-on favourite to succeed Mr Cameron, has insisted the UK is not "turning its back" on Europe. 
 
 He said the decision would not make the UK any less tolerant or outward looking and would not reduce opportunities for young people. ||||| FILE - In this June 22, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in New York. Widespread economic angst. Intense opposition to immigration policy. The rise of populist and... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this June 22, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in New York. Widespread economic angst. Intense opposition to immigration policy. The rise of populist and nationalist sentiments, particularly among less-educated and older white voters. The politics that... (Associated Press) 
 
 DENVER (AP) — Widespread economic angst. Intense opposition to immigration policy. The rise of populist and nationalist sentiments, particularly among less-educated and older white voters. 
 
 The politics behind the United Kingdom's vote to leave the European Union sound awfully familiar to the politics that have propelled Donald Trump to the Republican presidential nomination. 
 
 But before saying the victory by the "leave" side is a harbinger of a Trump victory on Election Day in the United States, it's wise to consider the many differences between the two allied nations with historic ties like few others. 
 
 The greatest difference: The United States is a significantly more racially diverse nation. 
 
 A look at that and some of the other essential differences, and important similarities, in this turbulent political season. 
 
 ___ 
 
 IMMIGRATION 
 
 The "leave" vote was widely seen as a backlash against a recent influx of legal immigrants to the U.K. In the U.S. race, Trump dominated the Republican presidential field after he pledged to build a wall on America's southern border as a way to reduce illegal immigration. 
 
 The percentage of the U.K. population born in another country recently reached an all-time high of 13 percent, the same as the foreign-born share of the U.S. population. "American politicians would do well to heed this lesson," said Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, which supports reducing immigration to the U.S. 
 
 But Britain's recent spike in immigration has been much more abrupt. The 2001 adoption of rules allowing free migration between EU member countries triggered an influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe into Britain, nearly doubling the number of foreign-born people living in the U.K. 
 
 "It often is the rate of change, rather than the volume" that can set off anxiety about immigration, said Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan, assistant director of the Washington-based Migration Policy Institute's international program. 
 
 The United States has for generations styled itself as a nation of immigrants. While current U.S. immigration numbers are high, they were even greater between 1860 and 1930. Much of the angst in the U.S. election has been about illegal immigration, as opposed to the overall numbers of those coming into the county legally. 
 
 ___ 
 
 DIVERSITY 
 
 The much greater racial and ethnic diversity in the United States is a reflection of its immigration history, along with the legacy of slavery that saw millions of blacks brought forcibly from Africa. Nonwhite minorities make up 38 percent of the U.S. population, compared with just 14 percent in the U.K. 
 
 The percentage of whites eligible to vote in U.S. elections has dropped from 78 percent in 2000 to an estimated 69 percent this fall. Minority voters historically lean overwhelmingly Democratic in presidential elections, a trend that strongly favors Trump's White House rival, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. 
 
 There were no independent exit polls conducted Thursday in the U.K., so the racial breakdown of the electorate isn't known. But returns in the referendum suggest whites in England voted solidly in favor of leaving, while whites in Scotland supported remaining. The overall 52-48 outcome suggests whites as a whole were fairly evenly divided in the U.K. 
 
 ___ 
 
 GEOGRAPHY 
 
 The U.K. vote featured a geographic split that parallels the familiar urban-rural divide in U.S. politics. 
 
 London provided the greatest base of support for remaining in the EU, while more rural areas of the U.K. voted to leave. Trump's support has been especially strong in more rural and less educated parts of the United States. Republicans in U.S. general elections also tend to fare better in rural areas and smaller cities and towns, while Democrats find many of their voters in America's urban centers. 
 
 The World Bank says about 17 percent of the population in each country lives in rural areas. But the numbers can be deceiving because the United States electorate is spread across many large cities. 
 
 London and its suburbs comprise about one-fifth of Britain's population, while almost one-third of Americans live in the areas around the 10 biggest cities. 
 
 "There is this big divide between London and the rest of the country," said Tom Wright of the Brookings Institute, who tracks British and American politics. "It tends to be more of an urban-rural thing in the U.S., while in England it's one city that tends to operate in a different economic world." 
 
 Democratic pollster Mark Mellman, who has worked in both countries, said the U.K. lacks the large suburbs that are critical contested areas in U.S. presidential races. "They just don't have the same kind of suburban thing as we do," he said. That gives extra clout to small-town and rural Britain. 
 
 ___ 
 
 REFERENDUM VS. ELECTION 
 
 The choice on whether to leave the EU was decided in a national referendum, while the U.S. selects the president in state-by-state votes. It's possible for the loser of the national popular vote to end up winning the White House, as Republican George W. Bush did over Democrat Al Gore in 2000. That difference alone makes a comparison a risky proposition. 
 
 Furthermore, referendum votes such as the U.K.'s on Thursday involve mostly faceless policy ideas. Presidential elections revolve around individuals. 
 
 "The Brexit vote did not have a candidate," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres, even if it was driven by "the same forces that drove Donald Trump to the hostile takeover of the Republican Party." 
 
 Trump can try to capitalize on economic frustrations, wariness about immigrants and a resentment of the political establishment, as the "leave" campaigners did successfully. 
 
 But Ayres' said Americans' decision this fall is "an evaluation of the two nominees," specifically "assessments of a candidate's character, leadership, trustworthiness." 
 
 That, he said, renders any "apples-to-apples" comparison between the two votes "impossible." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Barrow reported from Atlanta. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Nicholas Riccardi and Bill Barrow on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/NickRiccardi and http://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP ||||| EDINBURGH/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed on Saturday to protect Scotland’s European Union membership and said a fresh independence referendum was possible after Britain voted to leave the bloc. 
 
 Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks during an emergency cabinet meeting at Bute House in Edinburgh, Scotland June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Jane Barlow/Pool 
 
 “We will seek to enter into immediate discussions with the EU institutions and with other EU member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland’s place in the EU,” said Sturgeon, speaking outside her official residence in the Scottish capital. 
 
 “A second (Scottish) independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table, and it is very much on the table,” she said. 
 
 The EU executive, which was cool to Scots’ demands to stay in the EU before their 2014 vote on independence from the United Kingdom, was non-committal, however, as Brussels grapples with how to handle unprecedented divorce proceedings with Britain. 
 
 Scots rejected independence in the 2014 referendum by 55-45 percent and at the time the vote was considered a decisive verdict for a generation. Since then support for independence has not shifted significantly, according to polls. 
 
 But on Thursday, the United Kingdom voted overall to leave the EU, but Scots voted by 62-38 percent to remain. Sturgeon’s SNP says many Scots opted against independence in 2014 because they believed that was the only way to guarantee EU membership. 
 
 The SNP argues Thursday’s outcome changes the case for independence, and many Scots may reassess their 2014 vote. Sturgeon said on Friday a new referendum was “highly likely”. 
 
 After meeting ministers in her devolved government on Saturday, Sturgeon said Scotland would not allow its EU membership to be taken away and would seek to build broad-based support at home and abroad to maintain it. 
 
 She said she would establish a panel of experts to advise the Scottish government on legal, financial and diplomatic matters concerning EU membership. 
 
 EU REACTION 
 
 The European Commission reacted by saying Scotland was “part of the UK”. It declined to “speculate further.” 
 
 A source close to the Scottish government said Edinburgh was not discouraged and took that only “as a statement of fact.” 
 
 Other EU governments are wary of encouraging the Scottish overtures, despite some increase in sympathy around the bloc for the position pro-European Scots now find themselves in. 
 
 A Polish center-right member of the European Parliament, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, tweeted on Saturday about Scotland’s hosting of many Polish workers now and of Poland’s exile army in World War Two: “Thank you Scotland!” he said. “Welcome in EU!” 
 
 EU diplomats stressed that Scotland faces many hurdles to joining a bloc consumed by Brexit and that several veto-holding member states, notably Spain, fear a Scottish secession could boost their own separatist movements. 
 
 “We have other problems on our heads right now than feeding Scottish nationalism,” said one senior EU diplomat. 
 
 “Let them try and consult with Madrid first.” 
 
 The Scottish Greens, the parliamentary kingmaker for Sturgeon, said any new vote should be decided by “clear public appetite”, but included the independence option. 
 
 Slideshow (2 Images) 
 
 “It is too soon to say whether and when a further referendum on Scottish independence will take place, but in the wake of the EU referendum result few people will doubt that it must be on the table,” a spokesman for the party told Reuters. 
 
 Willie Rennie, leader of Scotland’s pro-EU Liberal Democrats, said in a statement he had committed his party to backing Sturgeon’s EU negotiation process, but had received a guarantee this was not a ruse for a new independence drive. 
 
 Splitting Scotland from England would end three centuries of shared statehood, upending another successful economic relationship shortly after the now-impending divorce between Britain and the EU. ||||| BRUSSELS—Jonathan Hill, the U.K.’s commissioner to the European Union, announced he would step down from the position, a day after the U.K.’s referendum result to leave the bloc was announced. 
 
 The departure of Mr. Hill, who is in charge of the bloc’s important financial services portfolio, had been regarded in Brussels as inevitable following...
– Now that Britain has voted to leave the European Union, EU leaders don't see any point in dragging things out. Foreign ministers from the bloc's six founding nations held an emergency meeting in Berlin Saturday and urged Britain to trigger Article 50 as soon as possible instead of leaving months of uncertainly before negotiations begin, the Guardian reports. "We have to turn the page, we don't want to create a vacuum," says Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders. "It won't be business as usual." Prime Minister David Cameron is stepping down and he wants his successor, who might not be in place until October, to handle exit negotiations. In other developments: A petition urging the British government to hold a second referendum now has more than 1.5 million signatures, well above the 100,000 threshold that will require lawmakers to consider it. The petition calls for a do-over on the grounds that the vote in favor of a Brexit was less than 60%, based on a turnout less than 75%, the BBC reports. The New York Times looks at the rifts the British decision has opened up in the UK and across Europe. Far-right parties across Europe are now calling for referendums on leaving the EU, while a new Scottish referendum on leaving the UK now seems certain. The British vote also exposed tensions between young and old, richer and poorer, and London and much of the rest of the country. Does the Brexit victory signal electoral success for Donald Trump? The AP looks at reasons why it might not, including the fact that the US is a much more diverse nation than the UK. Scotland voted to stay in the EU, and Reuters reports that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is not only preparing for a fresh independence vote, she is seeking separate Scottish negotiations with the EU. "We will seek to enter into immediate discussions with the EU institutions and with other EU member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland's place in the EU," she told reporters Saturday. UK Commissioner to the EU Jonathan Hill, the highest-ranking Brit in Brussels, is stepping down, the Wall Street Journal reports. "I don't believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened," he said, expressing disappointment that Britain had voted against staying in the EU and pressing for an "outward-looking, flexible, competitive, free trade Europe." The Washington Post looks at the potential financial consequences of the British exit for Americans. It may make mortgages a little cheaper, for some, and will probably make vacations in the UK more affordable.