Brexit: UK no longer a member of EU - BBC News

It’s the law.By Kate Whannel, Becky Morton, Martha Buckley, Alice Cuddy and Gavin StampAll times stated are UKThe European Union flag is taken down in Cardiff Bay as Brexit formally takes effect.After 47 years of membership and three and a half years since the country voted to leave, the UK has left the EU. But with negotiations on the UK's future relationship with Europe still to come, this won't be the last you hear of Brexit....Katya AdlerEurope EditorAs Brexit dawned, I found myself reporting for the BBC from outside the glass and concrete behemoth, otherwise known as the European Commission building, in Brussels.It's the same place I've regularly stood over the past three and a half years, attempting to explain the EU perspective on Brexit following our referendum and throughout the divorce negotiations.It struck me that the impersonal, impenetrable-looking monolith embodies the image so many back in the UK have of the EU as a whole.But going through my mind on Friday night were all the "ordinary" Europeans I've met across the continent while covering the Brexit story: engineers, teachers, bakers and bus drivers who asked "Why are you doing this?" and insisted: "Don't leave!"Read more from KatyaLaura KuenssbergBBC political editorWhat now? But we follow their rules until the end of the year, without a say.We are separate after more than 40 years, but remember much of the status quo will hold for now - the UK and the EU, the awkward couple, finally divorced - but still sharing a house and the bills.But what the prime minister hails as a new era, a bright new dawn, starts months of hard bargaining with our neighbours across the Channel.Read more from Laura here."Make leave not war", the Sun proclaims on its front page, which carries the prime minister's plea to bring the UK together. Read more of the front pages here.BBC Europe reporter tweets...With her first post-Brexit tweet, Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O'Neill says there's a "momentum of change" towards a united Ireland.Pre-recorded bongs from Big Ben played out as the UK left the European Union.Richard MossPolitical Editor, BBC Look NorthA few hundred people walked down Newcastle's Northumberland Street to Monument as part of a vigil tonight.The symbolic nature of today - the fact Boris Johnson brought the cabinet to Sunderland - has emphasised the centrality of north-east England in this whole debate.And that won't go away because although we are leaving the European Union there is still to be settled our future trading relationship with our biggest trading partner in the region, the European Union.There will be pressure from businesses like Nissan to have as close a relationship as almost we have now to make it as easy as possible for them to sell their cars, pressure perhaps from Conservative MPS in the region that if we are leaving a club we don't like being members of we shouldn't necessarily stick with the rules afterwards.Boris Johnson's biggest challenge is to prove these people at the vigil wrong, that Brexit will not be an historic blunder that will leave us lagging behind, that it can be coupled with an opportunity to make life better and make us wealthier in places like the north-east of England and Cumbria.The SNP's Ian Blackford says there is "sadness and anger" across Scotland at the UK's exit and the Scottish public will not "stand for it".He says the Scottish people will demand a say in their future and suggests an independence referendum will provide a path "back into Europe".He argues that the UK that Scotland voted to remain a part of in 2014 "no longer exists". How do they feel about Brexit?A simple guide on the UK leaving the European Union.From settled status to divorce bill, find out what the key terms mean.