DAVID GREENE, HOST:
The United Kingdom is still pretty much in disarray, politically and economically, after last week's vote to walk away from the European Union.
LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:
The ruling Conservative Party is in the midst of an uncertain battle to replace resigning Prime Minister David Cameron.
GREENE: The other major party, the Labor Party, is in revolt as members of Parliament are trying to force out their leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
WERTHEIMER: Credit-rating agencies are downgrading the U.K.'s bond rating and have a negative outlook on the country's economy.
GREENE: And later today, Prime Minister Cameron will be facing Europe's other 27 leaders for the first time since that vote, something he will likely be asked to explain.
WERTHEIMER: All this is happening as many in Britain remain furious and perplexed by the decision to walk away from the 28-nation trading bloc, the world's largest collective economy.
GREENE: Furious and perplexed - that really captures the way many young people are feeling in the U.K. A vast majority of young people voted to stay in the European Union. Many of them are planning a protest today. And let's bring in NPR's Frank Langfitt, who is in London. And, Frank, some chatter behind you - where exactly are we finding you this morning?
FRANK LANGFITT, BYLINE: Yeah, I'm at the Royal College of Art in a cafe, and there are a bunch of students here making posters for a protest later today. And they're - they've got a lot of cardboard and spray paint, and they're cutting out pictures of some of the politicians who've been involved - you know, involved in the Brexit vote.
GREENE: Not the kind of art you normally think of at the Royal College of Art, I gather.
LANGFITT: No, but - I mean, but this is a very, very political time, so very appropriate.
GREENE: Well, what - what are the messages? I don't know if you can see any of them on on their placards or - I mean, what - what message are they sending? What are they talking about when it comes to the vote and its aftermath?
LANGFITT: They're really, really angry. They're afraid about their future. And they also feel like some politicians have misled them. And they also feel that, for them, some future opportunities have been - sort of are being snatched away by leaving the EU. I was talking to a guy named Elijah Kenny (ph). He's a U.S.-born Brit passport-holder. He's a recent - he graduated from here a little while ago. He feels like voters really damaged his future and that of millions of other students. Here's how he put it.
ELIJAH KENNY: A lot of the opportunities to be able to move abroad and just kind of go off to France or Paris for a couple of years and go work there - part of the EU has changed dramatically, and especially within - I'm in the arts. And that has to do a lot of with travel, and it has to do with collaborations between different countries and different firms that are doing things. So it does put a big spin and damper on things that would have been a possibility for me.
LANGFITT: Now, when I was talking to Elijah, he was sitting with a teacher, whose name's Flora McLean (ph). And she said the referendum, for her, was really a rude awakening. And she thought the country - her country isn't the place that she thought it was. And I asked Flora this...
What are your greatest fears?
FLORA MCLEAN: All my fears, basically, have just come true. All my paranoia and skepticism about this country, based on this vote, is true.
LANGFITT: And what were those fears before that now seem to be confirmed?
MCLEAN: Ignorance, hatred, racism, selfishness, insular.
GREENE: You know, Frank, I just think about where you are. You're at a royal art school. You're talking to a teacher, a student who talks about traveling abroad and sort of his career being in jeopardy now. I mean, it brings to mind what a lot of people have said about this vote - that there really were divisions by age and also class. I mean, is that fair?
LANGFITT: Oh, very fair. And I think it's - it's really fascinating if you look at the map and you also just talk to people. One of the students here that I talked to is a guy named Chris Pitway. He had grown up in a place called Dartford - south side of London, working middle-class. Half of his friends never went to college. They all voted out. And here's - here's how Chris explained it.
CHRIS PITWAY: It seemed far more of a political protest vote as opposed to actually considering the effects of leaving the EU.
LANGFITT: Do you think your friends in Dartford who voted to leave and never went to college - do you think they're going to be happy with this decision in three years?
PITWAY: To a certain extent. I think, in their sort of political protest vote, they've already won because the country seems in turmoil after three or four days. And, yeah, I'm not sure where...
LANGFITT: Is that what they wanted?
PITWAY: Well, I don't think they know exactly what they wanted because they've never been given the right information to judge - judge a fair vote on.
GREENE: So, Frank, this question of what people want - I mean, that still seems to be an open question in the country. And, you know, the Brexiteers - the so-called Brexiteers who won this referendum have been saying they have a plan to go forward and avoid, you know, the economic collapse that people are warning about. I mean, do they have a plan? Is - are people convinced they have a plan?
LANGFITT: This is the big question. You know, they also - a lot of people here feel they were a bit misled. And there is a big question about whether there's a plan. Right now, I'm looking at someone who's written a sign right next to me that says lies. And this guy, Elijah, this art school student, this grad that I was talking to, he was very articulate on this issue. Here's what he said.
KENNY: I feel like the biggest lie was not having a plan. I think it's careless that - that that would be something that was even considered, that there wouldn't - it boggles my...
LANGFITT: Only careless?
KENNY: Well, it just boggles my mind that it was something that...
MCLEAN: Well, they didn't think they were going to win.
KENNY: Yeah, they didn't think they were going to win.
MCLEAN: They didn't think they were going to win. Farage looks totally shocked.
LANGFITT: So clearly feelings here are really still very raw. People are confused and angry, and they still don't really have a sense of where all this is headed.
GREENE: All right, we've been talking to NPR's Frank Langfitt in London, where there are planned protests today in the aftermath of the Brexit vote. Frank, thanks a lot.
LANGFITT: Happy to do it, David. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
