Brexit

Overwhelmed by ‘Brexit’? Here Are the Basics

The broader impact

• Britain would leave the world’s largest common market, with 508 million residents, including 65 million Britons. That would free them from the bloc’s commitment to the free movement of labor, capital, goods and services. But it would also bring complications.

• Little will change for at least two years, but the vote sets off a series of negotiations as the country separatesfrom the union’s remaining 27 members.

Britain, which has the second-largest economy in the bloc after Germany, would have to come up with new trading agreements. Almost half of its exports are sold on Europe’s common market.

• London’s role as a financial center could be imperiled,particularly if the trade in euro-denominated securities moves to rival cities like Paris and Frankfurt.

• The immediate impact on travel will be limited, especially as Britain was not a member of the passport-free Schengen zone, which came under heavy pressure last year from the refugee crisis.