2nd LD Writethru: So long: UK, EU bid farewell in historic breakup

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LONDON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Memories, celebrations and commiserations marked a historic day that will be narrated differently by Brexiteers and Europhiles in the future.

Britain officially left the European Union (EU) at 11 p.m. (2300 GMT) Friday, putting an end to its 47-year-long membership of the world's largest trading bloc.

In a televised special address to the nation, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who took office amid the Brexit crisis, called the moment "the dawn of a new era" when "the curtain goes up on a new act."

"Our job as the government -- my job -- is to bring this country together and take us forward," he said. "And the most important thing to say tonight is that this is not an end but a beginning."

The Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn urged the country not to "turn inwards" after it leaves the bloc.

A joint statement published by the EU leaders said that in the day which is inevitably of "reflection and mixed emotions," Britain and the EU will have to work hard to weave together a new way forward "as allies, partners and friends."

The moment also marked the start of a transition period that will last till the end of this year as negotiators face an uphill struggle for trade arrangement between Britain and the remaining EU nations.

At London's Parliament Square, Brexiteers were waving Union Jacks and chanting slogans to celebrate this historic moment.

For them, the day signifies that Britain has once again become a truly independent, sovereign state and a normal self-governing, parliamentary democracy.

"We will now be fully in control of our own laws, finance, borders and trade," Alan Sked, founder of Britain's leading Brexit political party the UK Independence Party, told Xinhua. "No longer shall we have to pay billions of pounds each year to unelected foreign bureaucrats to make up laws designed to ruin us."

"After almost 50 years we can forget about Brussels," added Sked, who is also professor emeritus of international history at the London School of Economics.

Big Ben, which has been mostly silent since restoration work began in 2017, did not chime at the historic moment for the nation that has been hugely divided since the Brexit referendum in 2016.

10 Downing Street, the prime minister's office and residence, counted down to the historic moment with a light display. Government buildings in central London were lit up to mark the special occasion.

The British government has hailed the Brexit Day as a significant moment in the country's history, and said it intends to use the event to bring communities back together and "heal divisions."

On Friday, a British government cabinet meeting took place in Sunderland, the first city to declare support for leaving the EU three and a half years ago.

On the other side of the English Channel, the Union Jack flag was lowered outside the compound of the European Parliament.

A commemorative Brexit coin which reads "Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations" also came into circulation in Britain on the day.

But Brexit could also mean an uncertain future for the United Kingdom.

Brian Renaghan, whose farmland straddles the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, fears that he may lose the annual EU subsidies to keep his business afloat.

"I will have to come up with another way to make money, perhaps turning it into a recreational farm or something," he told Xinhua.

In Dundee, a high-profile "Yes City" in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, City Council leader John Alexander said he was eager to get a good sleep before starting the next day campaigning even harder for Scottish independence.

"Brexit has not only resulted in huge political upheaval and public anger but is already having a negative impact upon the UK's, and therefore Scotland's, economic outlook," he told Xinhua. "The UK government's position does not in any way reflect the views of the Scottish population."

Every single voting district in Scotland voted to remain in the EU, the largest and most strategically important economic partner for Scotland, in the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Withdrawing from the EU is merely the first hurdle that will be followed by negotiations on a permanent trade and working arrangement between Britain and Brussels. Tough talks are expected to conclude before the end of this year as the Brexit "transition period" wraps up.

Ivan Rogers, Britain's former permanent representative to the EU, said Britain's departure from the EU will be just the starting point of a rocky and uncertain journey that may continue for years, and almost certainly into the second half of the 2020s.

The ex-diplomat warned that Jan. 31 is just the beginning of Brexit rather than the end of it.

Brexit also casts doubt on the future of the EU, which expanded a number of times throughout its history, and the trend of globalization as a whole.

Martin Albrow, a renowned sociologist and pioneer of the theory of globalization, told Xinhua that he thinks Brexit will in no way make any difference to globalization, which is driven by technology, culture and ideas.

Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator at the Financial Times, said in a recent column piece that Britain after Brexit will not be alone, but it will be lonelier.

"Will this separation endure? Nobody can know. But it is quite likely to last a long time. In my own view, it is a huge blunder. But the moment is now upon us. We must live with its consequences," he concluded. Enditem

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