from the Guardian today......
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jun/24/brexit-won-vote-remain-eu-article-50-lisbon-treaty-referendum-david-cameronThe most significant announcement David Cameron made this morning was not that he plans to resign in October. It was that he will not be triggering article 50 of the Lisbon treaty in the meantime. When to “start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU” would be a matter for the new prime minister, he said.
After this vote the UK is diminished, our politics poisoned
Gary Younge
Gary Younge Read more
So by sacrificing his own job, Cameron has bought Britain three months’ breathing space. He had told MPs in February that, in the event of a Brexit vote, the British people would “rightly expect” him to trigger article 50 “straight away”.
In the meantime, everything continues exactly as before. The referendum vote has immense political implications but no direct legal effect. We remain in the EU.
Of course, the new prime minister will be expected to respect the result of the referendum and, in due course, to notify the European council – which includes all EU heads of state or government – of the UK’s intention to withdraw from the EU under article 50. But we now have three months in which EU leaders can devise some sort of associate membership for the UK that just
might be enough to stop that happening.