Britain's finance minister on Monday sought to calm markets after the country's shock vote to leave the EU, and insisted it would be not rushed into a break-up despite pressure from EU leaders.
George Osborne said Britain's economy was "as strong as could be" to deal with the fallout of Thursday's momentous Brexit vote, which has already claimed the scalp of Prime Minister David Cameron and fuelled fears of a break-up of the United Kingdom.
"Today I want to reassure the British people, and the global community, that Britain is ready to confront what the future holds for us from a position of strength," he said, minutes before the opening of European stock markets.
Despite the reassurances, London's FTSE 100 stock index dropped another 0.8 percent at the opening after plunging on Friday, while the markets in Paris and Frankfurt opened up slightly.
Osborne's announcement temporarily halted the fall of sterling against the dollar after it lost two percent in Asia.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in London later in the day after a stop-off in Brussels, while the leaders of Germany, France and Italy will meet in Berlin to tackle the crisis.
Three days after Cameron announced his resignation, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also facing pressure to stand down, with a string of his top team resigning on Sunday.
Osborne stressed that Britain would not be rushed into activating Article 50 of the 2007 Lisbon Treaty, which will set the clock ticking on a two-year period to negotiate its divorce from the EU.
"Only the UK can trigger Article 50, and in my judgement we should only do that when there is a clear view about what new arrangement we are seeking with our European neighbours," he said.
EU powers have called for a swift divorce amid fears of a domino effect of exit votes in eurosceptic member states that could imperil the integrity of the 28-nation alliance.
But Cameron has said negotiations on Britain's departure must wait until a successor is chosen from his Conservative party, which could be as late as October.
European Parliament chief Martin Schulz warned Sunday that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity" and said a summit of EU leaders Tuesday, which Cameron will attend, was the "right time" to begin exit proceedings.
But EU diplomats said Sunday that Britain "may never" trigger Article 50.
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Johnson says no rush to
pull Britain out of EU
Top Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said there was no need to rush pulling Britain out of the EU, as he sought to reassure Britons abroad and EU citizens in Britain with a message of continuity on Monday.
Johnson also urged Brexit backers to "build bridges" with those who voted for Britain to stay in the EU after Thursday's bitterly divisive referendum and played down the prospects of Scottish independence.
"The only change -- and it will not come in any great rush -- is that the UK will extricate itself from the EU's extraordinary and opaque system of legislation," Johnson wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.
"EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU," wrote Johnson, the former mayor of London and a favourite to succeed the outgoing Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
"British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and settle down," he said.
Britons voted by 52 percent to 48 percent in favour of leaving the European Union in a vote that sent shockwaves through the financial markets, toppled Cameron and put world leaders in crisis mode.
But Johnson said Britain would retain close ties with Europe despite warnings during the campaign from those who wanted Britain to stay in the EU.
"There will still be intense and intensifying European cooperation and partnership in a huge number of fields: the arts, the sciences, the universities, and on improving the environment," he said.
Johnson also urged Brexit supporters to "build bridges" with Britons who had supported staying.
"They are our neighbours, brothers and sisters who did what they passionately believe was right.
"We must reach out, we must heal, we must build bridges “ because it is clear that some have feelings of dismay, and of loss, and confusion," he wrote.
But he added that the "climate of apprehension" was caused by exaggerated warnings during the campaign.
"At home and abroad, the negative consequences are being wildly overdone, and the upside is being ignored," he said.
He also reacted to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's statement that a new independence referendum within two years was now "highly likely" because most Scots had voted to stay in the EU.
"We had one Scotland referendum in 2014, and I do not detect any real appetite to have another one soon.
"It goes without saying that we are much better together in forging a new and better relationship with the EU -- based on free trade and partnership, rather than a federal system," he said.
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Paris, London vow
ever closer ties
PARIS: The mayors of Paris and London vowed Monday to work closer together to "shape the century ahead" despite Britain's choice to leave the European Union.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and London Mayor Sadiq Kahn published a joint statement in Le Parisien and The Financial Times papers, which highlighted the important role of cities in leading innovation.
"London and Paris. There is so much that unites our two great cities. Shared history, shared culture, shared challenges and the shared experience of being one of just a handful of truly global cities," they wrote.
London voted to remain in the EU, while poorer regions surrounding the capital voted to leave.
"Despite the outcome of the EU referendum, our two cities must now work more closely together than ever before in order to deliver on our shared agendas," read the statement.
"If the 19th century was defined by empires and the 20th century by nation-states, the 21st century belongs to cities."
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Brexit vote sparks surge
in Irish passport papers
LONDON: Britain's vote to leave the European Union has triggered a surge in applications for Irish passports, which would allow their holders to remain EU citizens, officials said Monday.
A spokeswoman for the UK Post Office, which handles passport applications, said: "We have seen an unusually high number of people in Northern Ireland seeking Irish passport applications, though we do not have exact numbers or a breakdown by branch."
Britain voted in a referendum last Thursday by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the 28-nation EU, whose citizens enjoy free movement rights.
They can also seek employment in other EU states without the need for a work permit, use public healthcare facilities across the bloc and benefit from welfare and other rights.
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French purists want English
scrapped as EU language
PARIS: French purists have never taken kindly to having English thrust upon them, and some have seized upon Brexit as a chance to rid themselves of Shakespeare's language -- at least at EU headquarters.
The shock of the decision across the Channel to break with the European Union had barely begun to sink in when two French politicians demanded that Britain, before shutting the door, take its language along with it.
"The English language no longer has any legitimacy in Brussels," tweeted the far-right mayor of the southern town of Beziers, Robert Menard.
