英国首相卡梅伦辞职演讲双语全文

UK Votes to Leave EU

英国公投退欧

On June 24, in a historic referendum known as Brexit, the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU). Shortly after the Leave results were confirmed, the British pound began to fall drastically, and Prime Minister Cameron announced that he would be stepping down. Like Cameron, all of the other EU leaders had hoped that voters would choose to Remain. The process to officially leave the EU is expected to take at least two years. The next prime minister will likely take care of the negotiations.

6月24日，英国举行具有历史意义的“Brexit”公投，英国选择离开欧盟。就在“退欧”公投后不久，英镑急转直下，英国首相卡梅伦宣布辞职。正如卡梅伦以及欧盟领导人一样，都希望英国留欧。正式退欧进程恐将至少持续两年。下任总统将有可能处理谈判事宜。

n 23 June, the UK finally settled the question that's been rumbling close to the surface of British politics for a generation: should the country remain within the European Union or go it alone. The final result went 52 to 48 per cent in favour of Brexit - so what are the pros and cons of leaving the European Union?

How we got here

The Conservative's general election victory last year activated a manifesto pledge to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union by the end of 2017.

David Cameron made the promise at a time when he was under pressure from Eurosceptic backbenchers –and when the Tories appeared to be losing votes to Ukip. Most political commentators agree that, given a free hand, he would not have wanted a referendum.

Last winter, the Prime Minister embarked on a tour of EU capitals as he sought to renegotiate Britain's terms of membership, which concluded at a summit in February. Presenting the result as a victory, he vowed to campaign with his "heart and soul" to keep Britain inside a "reformed" EU, but several members of his own cabinet campaigned for a British exit – or "Brexit".

Minutes after the vote closed on Thursday, it appeared the UK would stay in the EU. Even Ukip's Nigel Farage said it "looks like Remain will edge it".

However, when the final results came in, it was the Leave campaign that had won, prompting Cameron to announce that he would resign as prime minister before the Conservative Party conference in October.

The pros and cons of leaving the EU

The greatest uncertainty associated with leaving the EU is that no country has ever done it before, so no one can predict the exact result.

Membership fee

Leaving the EU would result in an immediate cost saving, as the country would no longer contribute to the EU budget, argue Brexiters. Last year, Britain paid in ￡13bn, but it also received ￡4.5bn worth of spending, says Full Fact, "so the UK's net contribution was ￡8.5bn". That's about 7 per cent of what the Government spends on the NHS each year.

What's harder to determine is whether the financial advantages of EU membership, such as free trade and inward investment (see below) outweigh the upfront costs.

Trade

The EU is a single market in which no tariffs are imposed on imports and exports between member states. "More than 50 per cent of our exports go to EU countries," says Sky News.

Membership of the bloc means we have always had a say over how trading rules are drawn up. Britain also benefits from trade deals between the EU and other world powers. "The EU is currently negotiating with the US to create the world's biggest free trade area," says the BBC, "something that will be highly beneficial to British business."

Britain risks losing some of that negotiating power by leaving the EU, but it would be free to establish its own trade agreements.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage believes Britain could follow the lead of Norway, which has access to the single market but is not bound by EU laws on areas such as agriculture, justice and home affairs. But others argue that an "amicable divorce" would not be possible.

"If Britain were to join the Norwegian club," says The Economist, "it would remain bound by virtually all EU regulations, including the working-time directive and almost everything dreamed up in Brussels in future." And it would no longer have any influence on what those regulations said.

Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, meanwhile, has proposed adopting a Canada-style trade arrangement. "I think we can strike a deal as the Canadians have done based on trade and getting rid of tariffs" and have a "very, very bright future", he said. The idea was quickly dismissed by Cameron at the time, who said it would mean "years of painful negotiations and a poorer deal than we have today".

Eurosceptics argue that the vast majority of small and medium sized firms do not trade with the EU but are restricted by a huge regulatory burden imposed from abroad.

A study by the think-tank Open Europe, which campaigned to see the EU radically reformed, found that the worst-case "Brexit" scenario is that the UK economy loses 2.2 per cent of its total GDP by 2030 (by comparison, the recession of 2008-09 knocked about 6 per cent off UK GDP). However, it says that GDP could rise by 1.6 per cent if the UK was able to negotiate a free trade deal with Europe –ie to maintain the current trade set-up –and pursued "very ambitious deregulation".

Whether other EU countries would offer such generous terms is one of the big unknowns of the debate. Pro-exit campaigners argued that it would be in the interests of other European countries to re-establish free trade, but their opponents suggested that the EU would want to make life hard for Britain in order to discourage further breakaways.

France also warned recently that there would be "consequences" for Britain if it left the EU. Investment

Inward investment was always predicted to slow in the run-up to the vote, due to the uncertainty of the outcome and its consequences: that's what happened in before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.

In the long term, there are diverging views: pro-Europeans think the UK's status as one of the world's biggest financial centres will be diminished if it is no longer seen as a gateway to the EU for the likes of US banks, while Brexit campaigners suggest that, free from EU rules a regulations, Britain could reinvent itself as a Singapore-style supercharged economy.

Fears that car-makers could scale back or even end production in the UK if vehicles could no longer be exported tax-free to Europe were underlined by BMW's decision to remind its UK employees at Rolls-Royce and Mini of the "significant benefit" EU membership confers. Likewise, Business for New Europe said tax revenues would drop if companies that do large amounts of business with Europe – particularly banks – moved their headquarters back into the

Barclays, however, put forward a worst-case scenario that might have benefitted the Outers. It said the departure of one of the EU's most powerful economies would hit its finances and boost populist anti-EU movements in other countries. This would open a "Pandora's box", said the Daily Telegraph, which could lead to the "collapse of the European project".

The UK would then be seen as a safe haven from those risks, attracting investors, boosting the pound and reducing the risk that Scotland would "leave the relative safety of the UK for an increasingly uncertain EU".

Sovereignty

For Brexiters, sovereignty was seen as a simple win: few disagree that EU membership involves giving up some control over our own affairs.

Labour MP Kate Hoey says the EU is "an attempt to replace the democratic power of the people with a permanent administration in the interests of big business". Those on the right of the Conservative party may disagree with her emphasis, but they agree that EU institutions have drained power from the British Parliament.

"The trouble is that most of us have no clue as to how the Brussels monolith works, or who's in charge," said Stay or Go, the Connell Guide to the EU referendum. But, it said, we have only ourselves to blame. "We've made it that way" because too many of us "can't be bothered to vote" in European elections.

For those in the Remain camp, EU membership involved a worthwhile trade of sovereignty for influence: in return for agreeing to abide by EU rules, Britain had a seat around the table at which they are set - and, say campaigners, its voice was amplified on the world stage as a result. "The truth is that pulling up the drawbridge and quitting the EU will not enhance our national sovereignty," warned Labour's Hilary Benn, who was sacked as shadow foreign secretary this week after complaining about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. "All it would do is to weaken it by taking away our power to influence events in an ever more complex and interdependent world." Nor, said Remainers, will UK sovereignty be absolute out of the EU: the British government would still be bound by membership of Nato, the UN, the World Trade Organisation, and various treaties and agreements with other nations.

Immigration

Under EU law, Britain cannot prevent anyone from another member state coming to live in the country – while Britons benefit from an equivalent right to live and work anywhere else in the EU. The result has been a huge increase in immigration into Britain, particularly from eastern and southern Europe.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 942,000 eastern Europeans, Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK, along with 791,000 western Europeans – and 2.93m workers from outside the EU. China and India are the biggest source of foreign workers in the UK. Remainers say that, while the recent pace of immigration has led to some difficulties with housing and service provision, the net effect has been overwhelmingly positive. By contrast, Farage insisted immigration should be cut dramatically, and that leaving the EU was the only way to "regain control of our borders". Other pro-Brexit campaigners would not necessarily reduce immigration, but said that it should be up to the British Government to set the rules.

Cameron claimed that the concessions he won during the renegotiation of Britain's EU membership would reduce immigration as new arrivals will receive a lower rate of child benefit.

The effect of leaving the EU on British jobs depends on a complex interplay of the factors above: trade, investment and immigration.

Pro-EU campaigners suggested that three million jobs could be lost if Britain goes it alone. However, while "figures from the early 2000s suggest around three million jobs are linked to trade with the European Union," says Full Fact, "they don't say they are dependent on the UK being an EU member."

If trade and investment falls now the UK has voted for Brexit, then some of these jobs would be lost – but if they rose, then new jobs would be created.

A drop in immigration would, all else being equal, mean more jobs for the people who remained, but labour shortages could also hold back the economy, reducing its potential for growth. Stuart Rose, former Marks & Spencer chief executive and a prominent pro-EU campaigner, conceded recently that wages may rise if Britain leaves – which would be good for workers, but less so for their employers.

Writing for the London School of Economics, Professor Adrian Favell said limiting freedom of movement would deter the "brightest and the best" of the continent from coming to Britain and reduce the pool of candidates employers can choose from.

Free movement of people across the EU also opened up job opportunities for British workers seeking to work elsewhere in Europe.

Britain's place in the world

For Outers, leaving the EU will allow Britain to re-establish itself as a truly independent nation with connections to the rest of the world. But Remainers fear that Brexit will result in the country giving up its influence in Europe, turning back the clock and retreating from the global power networks of the 21st century.

Brexit would bring some clear-cut advantages, said The Economist before the referendum. The UK "would regain control over fishing rights around its coast", for example. But it concluded that the most likely outcome would be that Britain would find itself "a scratchy outsider with somewhat limited access to the single market, almost no influence and few friends".

The UK will remain a member of Nato and the UN, but it may be regarded as a less useful partner by its key ally, the US. The American government said it feared that the "EU referendum is a dangerous gamble that could unravel with disastrous consequences for the entire continent". Security

Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was in favour of Brexit, said we were leaving the "door open" to terrorist attacks by remaining in the EU. "This open border does not allow us to check and control people," he said.

However, a dozen senior military figures, including former chiefs of defence staff Lord Bramall and Jock Stirrup, argued the opposite. In a letter released by No 10, they said that the EU is an "increasingly important pillar of our security", especially at a time of instability in the Middle East and in the face of "resurgent Russian nationalism and aggression".

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has also said the UK benefitted from being part of the EU, as well as Nato and the United Nations. "It is through the EU that you exchange criminal records and passenger records and work together on counter-terrorism," he said. "We need the collective weight of the EU when you are dealing with Russian aggression or terrorism."

In contrast, Colonel Richard Kemp, writing in The Times, said these "critical bilateral

relationships" would persist regardless of membership, and that it was "absurd" to suggest that the EU would put its own citizens, or the UK's, at greater risk by reducing cooperation in the event of Brexit.

"By leaving, we will again be able to determine who does and does not enter the UK," said Kemp, a former head of the international terrorism team at the Cabinet Office. "Failure to do so significantly increases the terrorist threat here, endangers our people and is a betrayal of this country."

The country has just taken part in a giant democratic exercise –perhaps the biggest in our history. Over 33 million people –from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar –have all had their say.

这个国家刚刚进行了一场大型的民主活动，这也许是我们历史上最大的一次。超过3300万来自英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士、北爱尔兰和直布罗陀的人民表达了他们的声音。

We should be proud of the fact that in these islands we trust the people with these big decisions. 我们应该为这个事实感到骄傲。在这片国土上，我们相信这些岛屿上人民做出重大选择。

We not only have a parliamentarydemocracy, but on questions about the arrangements for how we are governed, there are times when it is right to ask the people themselves, and that is what we have done.

我们不仅拥有议会民主制度，而且还在如何管理这个国家的问题上，我们也会适时征求人民的意愿。对此我们已经做到了。

The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their will must be respected.

英国人民投票选择离开欧盟，他们的意愿必须得到尊重。

I want to thank everyone who took part in the campaign on my side of the argument, including all those who put asideparty differences to speak in what they believed was the national interest.

我要感谢在这场公投里和我持相同意见的每个人，这其中包括摈弃政党偏见来表达他们对国家利益信念的所有人。

【语言点解析】

put aside的三个释义：

1．place sth．on one side 放在一边

She put her sewing aside when the telephone rang．电话响时她把缝纫活放在一边。

2．save or reserve 节省或存储

He tries to put aside a little money every month．每月他都努力省些钱下来。

3．ignore 不予理会

During the war everyone put their political differences aside and worked together．战争期间大家都放弃政治分歧通力合作。

And let me congratulate all those who took part in the Leave campaign –for the spiritedand passionate case that they made.

同时，让我向所有脱欧派人士的努力和热情表示祝贺。

【语言点解析】

spirited：精神饱满的，生气勃勃的，活泼的

The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered.

英国人民的意愿，必须服从。

It was not a decision that was taken lightly, not least because so many things were said by so many different organisations about the significance of this decision.

这不是一个轻易做出的决定，并不仅仅是因为众多不同组织对这一决定的重要性阐述了众多观点。

So there can be no doubt about the result.

因此对这个结果不应持有疑问。

Across the world people have been watching the choice that Britain has made.

全世界的人民都已经看到了英国做出的决定。

I would reassure those markets and investors that Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong.

我想对市场及投资者重申的是，英国的经济基础非常强劲。

【语言点解析】

reassure：使……安心，使消除疑虑

And I would also reassure Brits living in European countries, and European citizens living here, that there will be no immediate changes in your circumstances.

另外我也向居住在欧洲国家的英国公民以及在英国居住的欧洲公民保证，你们的现状不会立刻发生改变。

There will be no initial change in the way our people can travel, in the way our goods can move or the way our services can be sold.

我们的人民在出行方式上目前不会有任何改变。物品运送、服务提供都将照常进行。

We must now prepare for a negotiation with the European Union.

我们现在必须做出准备，与欧盟进行协商。

This will need to involve the full engagement of the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments to ensure that the interests of all parts of our United Kingdom are protected and advanced.

协商需要苏格兰、威尔士以及北爱尔兰政府的共同参与，以确保联合王国各方面的利益都受到保护和推进。

But above all this will require strong, determined and committed leadership.

但要做到以上全部，我们需要强劲、坚定且负责任的领导者。

I am very proud and very honoured to have been Prime Minister of this country for 6 years.

我非常骄傲和荣幸能在过去的六年里担任这个国家的首相。

I believe we have made great steps, with more people in work than ever before in our history, with reforms to welfare and education, increasing people’s life chances, building a bigger and stronger society, keeping our promises to the poorest people in the world, and enabling those who love each other to get married whatever their sexuality.

我相信我们已经做出了巨大的进步：就业人数从未如此之多；我们对福利和教育进行改革，改善人民生活质量、建设更大更强的社会；保持对全世界最贫困人民做出的承诺；不论性别，让相爱的人们合法结婚。

But above all restoring Britain’s economic strength, and I am grateful to everyone who has helped to make that happen.

所有这一切都将让英国继续保持其经济实力。我对帮助实现这一切的所有人表示感谢。

I have also always believed that we have to confront big decisions –not duck them.

我始终相信，对重大决策，我们应该面对，而不是回避。

【语言点解析】

duck：躲避

用作动词(v.)～+名词

duck one's head 低头～+副词

duck down 低下身子躲过…～+副词+介词

duck away from 避开～+介词

duck behind 藏在…后面

duck by 以…避开

duck into 迅速躲进

duck under water 潜入水下

duck with 用…回避

That’s why we delivered the first coalition government in 70 years to bring our economy back from the brink.

这就是为什么我们成立了70年来首个联合政府，带领经济脱离濒危边缘。

【语言点解析】

brink：边缘，极限

on the brink of：濒临，处于... ...

It’s why we delivered a fair, legal and decisive referendum in Scotland.

这就是为什么我们在苏格兰进行了公正、合法、有决定意义的公投。

And why I made the pledge to renegotiate Britain’s position in the European Union and hold a referendum on our membership, and have carried those things out.

这也是为什么我做出承诺，与欧盟重新商议英国的地位、开启英国与欧盟关系的公投，并实现它们。

【语言点解析】

made the pledge：做出承诺

I fought this campaign in the only way I know how –which is to say directly and passionately what I think and feel –head, heart and soul.

我以自己知道的唯一方法进行着这个过程，那就是直接、用心地表达我内心的想法和感受。

I held nothing back. I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the European Union, and I made clear the referendum was about this and this alone –not the future of any single politician, including myself.

我没有任何保留，我的立场很明确，英国在欧盟内将会更加强大、安全和繁荣。我也强调了这次公投跟任何政客的前途，包括我自己，没有任何关系。

But the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path, and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.

但是英国民众已经做出了明确且不同的选择，因此我认为英国需要新的领导人来带领我们的国家向前。

I will do everything I can as Prime Minister to steady the ship over the coming weeks and months, but I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.

我将以首相的身份尽我所能在未来几个星期、几个月中稳定局面。但我认为并不应该由我作为领导人带领我们的国家向新的目的地前进。

This is not a decision I have taken lightly, but I do believe it is in the national interest to have a period of stability and then the new leadership required.

这是我经过慎重考虑做出的决定。但从国家利益出发，我认为我们需要一段稳定期，之后便需要更换新的领导人。

There is no need for a precise timetable today, but in my view we should aim to have a new Prime Minister in place by the start of the Conservative party conference in October.

我们不需要今天就制定一个详细的时间进度表，但是我认为，在10月保守党大会开始之前，我们需要一个新的首相继任。

Delivering stability will be important and I will continue in post as Prime Minister with my Cabinet for the next 3 months.

保持稳定是非常重要的，在接下来的三个月里，我将继续作为首相和我的内阁一起为大家服务。

The Cabinet will meet on Monday. The Governor of the Bank of England[英格兰银行行长] is making a statement about the steps that the Bank and the Treasury are taking to reassure financial markets.

内阁将在周一举行会谈，英格兰银行行长将发表声明，阐释央行与财政部关于确保金融市场稳定采取的下一步措施。

We will also continue taking forward the important legislation that we set before Parliament in the Queen’s Speech.

我们也会继续推进在女王议会讲话中制定的重要立法议程。

And I have spoken to Her Majesty the Queen this morning to advise her of the steps that I am taking.

我今天早晨也跟女王陛下通话并告知我即将采取的行动。

A negotiation with the European Union will need to begin under a new Prime Minister, and I think it is right that this new Prime Minister takes the decision about when to trigger Article 50 and start the formal and legal process of leaving the EU.

与欧盟的协商需要由新的首相开启，我认为应该由新任首相去决定何时启动《里斯本条约》第50条、开启脱离欧盟的正式法律程序。

I will attend the European Council next week to explain the decision the British people have taken and my own decision.

我将在下周举行的欧洲理事会会议上阐释英国人民的选择和我个人的决定。

The British people have made a choice. That not only needs to be respected –but those on the losing side of the argument, myself included, should help to make it work.

英国人民已经做出决定，这不仅需要被尊重；同时，失败的一方，包括我本人在内，还应该努力去协助实现这一决定。

Britain is a special country.

英国是一个特别的国家。

We have so many great advantages. A parliamentary democracy where we resolve great issues about our future through peaceful debate.

我们拥有很多杰出的优点：我们实行议会民主制，通过和平辩论的方式解决关乎未来的重要事项。

A great trading nation, with our science and arts, our engineering and our creativity respected the world over.

我们是强大的贸易国家，科学和艺术、工程和创造力深受世界推崇。

And while we are not perfect, I do believe we can be a model of a multi-racial, multi-faith democracy, where people can come and make a contribution and rise to the very highest that their talent allows.

虽然我们并不完美，但我相信我们能为多种族、多信仰的民主系统树立典范。人们可以来到英国，做出贡献并凭借才华能力达到自己的顶峰。

Although leaving Europe was not the path I recommended, I am the first to praise our incredible strengths.

尽管离开欧洲并不是我推崇的道路，但我是第一个赞扬我们卓越力量的人。

I have said before that Britain can survive outside the European Union, and indeed that we could find a way.

以前我说过，脱离欧盟英国也能继续下去，我们肯定会找到一条出路。

Now the decision has been made to leave, we need to find the best way, and I will do everything I can to help.

现在决定已经做出，英国脱离欧盟。我们需要找到最正确的方向，而我也将尽我所能去帮助实现它。

I love this country –and I feel honoured to have served it.

我热爱这个国家，能够为之效力我感到十分自豪。

And I will do everything I can in future to help this great country succeed.

未来我也将尽我所能去帮助这个伟大国家取得成功。