The UK’s European Commissioner Lord Hill is to stand down, saying “what is done cannot be undone” after the UK voted to leave the European Union. In a statement, he said he did not believe it was right for him to carry on with his work as the commissioner in charge of financial services. But he will stay on for a period of weeks to ensure an “orderly handover”.A close ally of Prime Minister David Cameron, Lord Hill had argued for the UK to remain in the EU.He will be replaced by Latvian politician Valdis Dombrovskis, currently European Commissioner for the euro.Lord Hill’s announcement comes as EU foreign ministers urged Britain to hold speedy talks on leaving the bloc, after it voted to end its membership on Thursday.And Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would be seeking “immediate discussions” with Brussels to “protect Scotland’s place in the EU” following the so-called Brexit vote.Ms Sturgeon has said a new Scottish independence referendum is “highly likely”.European Commissioners are among the most powerful officials in Brussels, with the ability to make laws across a range of policy areas, but the UK will cease to have one when it leaves the EU. In a statement, Conservative peer Lord Hill said he was “obviously very disappointed” about the result of the referendum, adding: “I wanted it to end differently and had hoped that Britain would want to play a role in arguing for an outward-looking, flexible, competitive, free trade Europe. But the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works.”He went on: “I came to Brussels as someone who had campaigned against Britain joining the euro and who was sceptical about Europe. “I will leave it certain that, despite its frustrations, our membership was good for our place in the world and good for our economy.” Lord Hill said he did not believe it was right for him to continue as commissioner “as though nothing had happened”, but that there needed to be “an orderly handover” in the weeks ahead. European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker said he had accepted Lord Hill’s resignation “with great regret,” hailing him as a “true European”. He said he had put the Conservative peer in charge of financial services “as a sign of my confidence in the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union” – but “to my great regret, this situation is now changing”. Earlier, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said negotiations on the UK’s exit from the EU should begin as “soon as possible”.He made the comments after an urgent meeting of the six EU founder members to discuss the decision.David Cameron has said he will step down by October to allow his successor to conduct talks and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which will formally take the UK out of the EU after two years of exit negotiations. The chief executive of Vote Leave, Matthew Elliott, told the Reuters news agency there was no need to “swiftly invoke” Article 50, adding it was “best for the dust to settle over the summer, and during that time for there to be informal negotiations with other states”.Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon hit back at claims the UK government had been left rudderless following Mr Cameron’s resignation statement.Speaking at an Armed Forces Day event in Cleethorpes, Mr Fallon said: “The prime minister goes on, the government goes on until the autumn, until there’s a new leader and a new government.”We’ll remain at our posts and we have a big agenda. We were elected only a year ago and we’ve set out fresh legislation which we’re taking through Parliament at the moment.”A timetable for a Conservative leadership election is to be announced on Monday, with former London mayor Boris Johnson – who spearheaded the campaign to get Britain out of the EU – the favourite to get the job.MPs will select two candidates to go forward to a vote of Conservative Party members, with the winner becoming the UK’s next prime minister, as well as party leader.Pro-EU Conservative MP Sir Alan Duncan warned that MPs must not be “railroaded” into choosing Mr Johnson. He said party members liked the “excitement and notoriety” of Mr Johnson but electing him would be a “permanent ride on the big dipper”.
