Friday at 23:00 GMT, Britain will finally leave the European Union and usher in a ‘new dawn’ as Prime Minister Boris Johnson will describe Brexit during a videotaped speech that will be broadcast one hour earlier.
A series of events including marches, celebrations and candlelit vigils will be held by both Brexiteers and pro-EU demonstrators.
This evening’s action follows more than three years of political wrangling within the UK.
Little will change immediately, as the UK begins a “transition period”.
Most EU laws will continue to be in force – including the free movement of people – until the end of December, by which time the UK aims to have reached a permanent free trade agreement with the EU.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the country had to “move on” after Brexit and needed to “make sure we maintain good relations” with the EU and not “fall into the arms of a free tree deal with the United States”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the UK “must be united in a common vision for our country, however great our differences on achieving it”.
Former Prime Minister David Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in the EU during the referendum, called it a “very big day for our country”, adding that he believed the UK could “make a success of the choice that we made”.
And Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said: “At last the day comes when we break free. A massive victory for the people against the establishment.”
