Nigel Farage resigns as UKIP leader

Prominent leave campaigner Nigel Farage stepped down Monday as leader of the eurosceptic United Kingdom Independence Party.

Announcing his resignation to the press, Farage said that he had achieved his political goal in light of the UK's decision to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

"My aim in being in politics was to get Britain out of the EU, that is what we voted for in that referendum two weeks ago," Farage said.

"I've done my bit, I couldn't possibly achieve more."

Farage, who is also a member of the European Parliament, had been UKIP leader since 2010 and had spent the majority of his political life advocating for the UK's departure from the EU.

He said he would "continue to support the party, support the new leader, watch the renegotiation process in Brussels like a hawk and, perhaps, comment in the European Parliament."

A central figure in the "leave" campaign in the lead up to the UK's EU referendum, Farage described Friday June 24 as British "independence day."

His role in the campaign drew accusations of populism and xenophobia from politicians on both sides of the campaign.

One controversial "leave" poster depicted a line of migrants on the Slovenian border with the words "Breaking Point."

Leader of the "remain" campaign and British Prime Minister David Cameron said the poster was "wrong in fact and in motivation."

Farage said the referendum campaign had been difficult at times.

"During the referendum I said that I wanted to take back my country, what I am saying today is that I want to take back my life and I will start right now," Farage said.

Farage had previously announced he would stand down after losing the South Thanet constituency in the 2015 general elections but he stayed on as leader after the party rejected his resignation.

Source: EFE

Migrant crisis: UK to send ships to tackle people smugglers

The UK will provide "vital military assets" to help a Nato mission tackling people smugglers in the Aegean Sea, David Cameron has said.

The PM said the amphibious landing ship RFA Mounts Bay would be sent, ahead of an emergency EU summit in Brussels.

The ship, which carries a Wildcat helicopter, will be working alongside three UK Border Force boats.

More than a million migrants entered the EU illegally by boat travelling mainly from Turkey to Greece last year.

RFA Mounts Bay and two Border Force patrol boats, known as cutters, will join naval vessels from Germany, Canada,
Turkey and Greece as part of Nato's first intervention in the migrant crisis.

The vessels will identify smugglers taking migrants to Greece and pass the information to the Turkish coastguard so it can intercept the boats and take the migrants back to Turkey.

The EU has pledged €3bn (£2.3bn; $3.3bn) to Turkey in return for housing migrants and stemming the flow.

Some 13,000 are stranded on Greece's border with Macedonia as European states seek to restrict entry.

RFA Mounts Bay would begin the operation in the "coming days", the cutter Protector was on its way to the region and a further cutter was expected to join them later this month, the government said.

Another Border Force boat, VOS Grace, is already in the Aegean Sea, between Greece and Turkey.

Source: BBC