Britain’s number 5 tennis player James Ward has made a surprising intervention into the Brexit debate on the opening day of Wimbledon, urging people to “stop panicking” and revealing that he had voted to leave and was happy with his decision.
In a press conference immediately after his straight sets defeat by the defending champion Novak Djokovic, Ward said: “Yeah, I voted out. I’m not fussed saying it. I don’t know others who are or not. But yeah, I voted out. I’m happy with my decision.”
Ward, the son of a London black cabbie who is being sponsored at the tournament by the Sun newspaper, added: “I think we’ll be all right. Everyone needs to stop panicking and we’ll be fine.”
He declined to give his reasons, and said he wasn’t overly worried that life on the tour would be more expensive following the collapse in the pound. “It’s still an expensive life out there anyway. I don’t think it’s going to change too much.”
James Ward at Wimbledon. Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images
George Osborne’s efforts to calm the markets over Brexit proved fruitless as more than £40bn was wiped off the value of Britain’s biggest companies, the Press Association reports.
The FTSE 100 Index plunged back below the 6,000 mark, slipping 2.6% to 5,982.2, despite Mr Osborne offering his assurances that the UK is “about as strong as it could be to confront the challenge our country now faces”.
On the currency markets, sterling plunged to a fresh 31-year low of 1.3151 US dollars, before rallying back to a 3.4% fall to 1.321 US dollars. Yields on 10-year government bonds also slid below 1% for the first time.
Heavyweight financial stocks, housebuilders and travel firms bore the brunt of the sell-off on the London market, with low-cost carrier easyJet sitting at the top of the biggest fallers after warning over profits.
Shares in easyJet were down 22% after the firm said it will take a 28 million hit following two months of turbulence and warned that Brexit would have a negative impact on the airline.
The Unite union is calling for cross-party action to tackle the growing abuse of migrants. Harish Patel, Unite’s national officer for equalities, said:
The numerous incidents of hate crime and racial abuse seen since the referendum result take our country back to more divided times. Those who brought poison and division to the EU referendum debate should not just hang their heads in shame but also make it abundantly clear that they condemn the racism and prejudice now showing its face. This poison must not be allowed to take root.
Labour’s Heidi Alexander asks Cameron what assurances the Brexit ministers have given him that, if when we leave the EU, there will be an extra £350m a week available for the NHS.
Cameron says he does not want to refight the campaign. He says there were different views as to the economic impact of Brexit.
In the chamber Labour’s Paula Sherriff asks Cameron to set up an all-party commission to consider the race hate crime that has been on the rise since the referendum. Cameron says he will consider this.
Boris Johnson has not been in the Commons chamber for David Cameron’s statement. Michael Gove was there, but some people did not see him because he was standing by the Speaker’s chair, not sitting on the front bench.
Earlier Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee, was asked on Sky News if he thought there should be an early election once a new party leader had been chosen. Brady said that the government had just been given a clear steer as to what voters wanted in the referendum, and that he thought it reasonable for the government to get on with the Brexit negotiations before calling an election.
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Cameron says he will be appointing another European commissioner to replace Lord Hill, who resigned at the weekend. As a full paying member of the EU, the UK is entitled to a commissioner, he says.
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