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E.U. Leaders Not Keen on Waiting for U.K. Brexit Negotiations; Cameron: Leaving E.U. Begins under New Prime Minister; Asian Market after Brexit; Germany's Merkel Pushes for Quick, Orderly Brexit; Iceland Upsets England at Euro 2016; Clinton, Warren Campaign Together. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 28, 2016 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:21] AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Amara Walker, in Los Angeles, where it is 11:00 in the evening.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Max Foster, outside the British parliament in London, where it's 7:00 on Tuesday morning.

And after a calamitous first few days, the world's markets have slowed, but not stopped their downward slide from the Brexit vote. Hopes of a recovery were quickly dashed as U.S. and European markets fell even further on Monday. The pound really being hit hard, hitting its lowest level against the dollar in more than 30 years.

Here in London, Labour Party M.P.s are set to hold a no-confidence vote against Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday. The majority of his shadow cabinet has resigned, questioning his leadership. And David Cameron is traveling to Brussels for what's likely to be his last European Council summit as prime minister. He says it won't be him, but his replacement, who starts the formal Brexit process. The E.U. leaders aren't too keen to wait to begin those negotiations.

Cameron spoke about the vote that led to his resignation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The British people voted to leave the European Union. It was not the result I wanted, nor the outcome I thought best for the country I love. But there can be no doubt for the country I love. Of course, I don't take back what I said about the risks. It is going to be difficult. We've already seen adjustments within our economy, complex constitutional issues and challenging new negotiation to undertake with Europe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: CNN international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson, joins us now from Brussels with the latest.

Nic, I'm imagining this horribly awkward moment when David Cameron goes into the room with other leaders who are pretty fed up with the U.K.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: He's going to have a lot of explaining to do. That's his intention, to explain over dinner this evening why he thinks the British people voted the way that they did, what it means for Britain, what he thinks it means for other European leaders. He'll talk about the issues that brought British people to this Leave vote, immigration being one of them. These are things that David Cameron will say will resonate with some European leaders. But what's very clear and what doesn't resonate, if you will, with any of the European leaders is any kind of intransigence on Britain's part to trigger Article 50 and to begin this negotiation to leave the European Union. And what we heard yesterday from the French president, Francois Hollande, articulated the concerns of many European leaders that the longer it takes for Britain to formally begin this process, whatever else it has to do, choose a new prime minister, get that prime minister to get support of his party, all the people, and figure out which way they want to go, and their relationship with the European Union in the future, the concern is that any prevarication, any delays in time brings instability. This is what Francois Hollande said.

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FRANCOIS HOLLAND, FRENCH PRESIDENT: Time? Because nothing is more uncertain than incertitude. Incertitude generates political behavior which is often irrational. Incertitude also generates financial behavior that can also be irrational. It's the U.K. who has already had this experience and it is painful, both on the political and the financial side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: When he talks about political fronts next year, it's no shock to anyone that France has a Euro-skeptic tendency, a nationalist right and left wing, as well, that raises questions about the European Union and France's involvement in it. So they are political prices for other leaders potentially if Britain doesn't move along. So that is going to be the imperative, that's what it's going to face. Embarrassing, maybe. But it's all really very politic here -- Max?

FOSTER: Yeah. In terms of -- obviously, you're talking about the intransigence that the Europeans don't want. But David Cameron, he's a lame duck effectively. He can't speak on who is going to come after him. But he also knows Boris Johnson, a front-runner, doesn't want to invoke that Article 50 anytime soon. There's no indication from any of the leaders that they want to invoke it. Inevitably, we've got the situation where the Europeans won't talk about pre-negotiations with a British prime minister probably who isn't going to invoke the article.

[02:05:10] ROBERTSON: Yeah. What made it very clear is David Cameron is not going to be able to come in here and have conversations on the sides of larger meetings, I would like to have this relationship with Germany, I'd like to have this with another country, I'd like to see immigration change this way. This sort of cherry picking trying to do side deals and bits and peaces absolutely not going to fly at all. The real concern here is, look, amongst European leaders, there is a

concern Britain has never been part of the European Union, stayed outside the Schengen free passport movement, stayed outside Euro, kept the pound sterling. Britain is somehow not guilty not going to follow through on the democratic will of its people, that it will prevaricate, and let slide treatise, the sort of action in the past would have potentially, we're talking a long time ago, but letting treatise slide. That would be a cause for going to war. Serious concerns here. That's not on the table, of course. That's not what we're talking about But the notion of not following through and doing what the electorates has said and doing what you said you were going to do, that's a concern, and that's something the European leaders here will want to see. Confirmed is not an option for the British.

FOSTER: Nic, thank you.

You've heard us talking about it. Britain's exit from the European Union hinges on one piece of E.U. legislation. That's Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. David Cameron says he won't invoke it at this stage and any new attempts to leave the E.U. must begin under a new prime minister.

Richard Quest explains what will happen once the clock starts ticking.

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RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: Nothing in the U.K. will change until it invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, and only the U.K. can press that trigger. Once pressed, a two-year countdown actually begins. The European Council will appoint the negotiators and then negotiations begin, the workout of the U.K.'s exit and future relationships during that negotiation. And then, the final deal is put to the parliament and it goes back to the council for an agreement. The U.K. is excluded, of course, when the council is considering that particular deal.

All in all, one of the biggest single most important aspects, the negotiation of access to the single market, the freedom of movement question, the aviation markets, and the E.U. presidency. When you look at it all and you put it together in this two-year time frame, approving the deal shows there's plenty of room in the works. Think about it, the deal must pass the European parliament. It must get an E.C. double majority with qualified majority voting in the council of ministers. 72 percent of the remaining country, that's 20 in total, representing 65 percent of the population. The U.K. parliament may also need to approve it as, indeed, and think about the clock ticking, has indeed made 27 states have to approve treaty changes or various policy differences.

So what happens if as the time moves on is there is no agreement within two years? Well, then the treaties simply no longer apply to the United Kingdom. That is, unless there's unanimous agreement for an extension.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: Richard Quest with the analysis of Article 50, which very few of us knew about before this began. Now we seem to be talking about it a lot of the time, including traders.

The Asian market are open, Andrew Stevens joins us from Hong Kong with more on the current numbers -- Andrew?

[02:09:30] ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ASIA-PACIFIC EDITOR: In Asia, it's a pretty quiet day. Japan is up a fraction today. The Nikkei is up just a fraction. The yen has seamed to peaked out or topped out. That's helping the Nikkei somewhat, but not much as you see there. Otherwise, long coming is leading the losses. It's only down by about .75 percent. So it makes the emerging markets very much indirectly involved in this massive global setoff that we've so seen. $3 trillion worth of value wiped off of stocks globally up until the start of today's trading since that Brexit vote was established. But nearly $2.7 trillion of the losses have come from the developed economies, from the European markets, the U.K. markets. So they're following the general trend. The effects are rippling out. But they aren't having nearly the same impact at they are to the epicenter, if you look, of the Brexit vote.

FOSTER: A lot of people here discussing what long-term impact this will have. We're going to talk to you a bit later on about that because people are talking about ending future investments in the U.K. until some sort of clarity is brought to this situation.

I want to go across now to Ingeborg Grassle, a German member of the European parliament, and will be involved in the negotiations when they have it.

It's all about this. When it comes to clarity, how does Britain ex industry indicate itself from the European Union? And if I can just ask you, do you think there had should be any calk talks before the formal process begins?

INGEBORG GRASSLE, GERMAN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: I don't think so, that there should be any talks before. From the moment, we only know from repress what happened in the U.K. We are waiting that Britain triggers the Article 50 of the treat treaty. It is understandable for me that there were no post Brexit plans. It was amazing for me to see all those people who fought for Brexit are now refusing to take responsibility for the causes and the consequences. They leave the people alone and they leave all those people alone and they lied during the whole campaign. It is very sad for us to see how responsibility, how they deal with their high responsibility they have for this result.

FOSTER: British politicians who were on the Leave side of things say that they are trying to get the best deal for the U.K. And they were only going to invoke that Article 50 once that they know that the negotiations are on a good track already. So they want those informed negotiations. But do you think European leaders will consider any sort of informal negotiations before Article 50 is invoked?

GRASSLE: I don't think so. There will be no informal negotiations because these informal negotiations, what would they mean? Now out and out and Britain now has to tell us how they can see a future relationship to the European Union. Even if they joined Lichtenstein, Northway and Switzerland, the free trade arrangement around the European Union, even then there are a lot of European rules they have to follow. It is not a cherry picking issue. They cannot choose whatever they want like to give. There are rules for every model. They would choose, but it's up to them to choose now.

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: If they don't invoke Article 50, that is dead lock? You're talking about dead lock?

GRASSLE: No. There's -- you happen, the referendum was on a reform package then Prime Minister Cameron negotiated in February. And this reform package is now void. It's over. It is not November the moment to renegotiate this package. It's obvious the referendum was done on the basis of Article 50 of the European Union. You can leave the union only since 2009, since the last treaty changes. And now, telling us that they want to have another model, which is not inside the treaty, this is not legal, and this will not be possible for the other European Union countries. We can now at this stage do nothing for Great Britain apart from choosing Article 50 and starting negotiations to go out. If they want to remain in, I think it's up to they will. But if they want to go out, then they need to trigger Article 50. There's no other procedure. All other steps would be illegal. That's why in my view of the European Council is not free to change your mind or renegotiate with you. You and the parliament need to agree on everything. Parliament would never agree on other negotiations, not for signing the treaty.

FOSTER: OK, Ingeborg Grassle, thank you very much, indeed. It's difficult to see where we're going to move from here.

[02:15:19] WALKER: All right. We're going to take a short break. From here, we're going to talk politics. When we come back, Hillary Clinton hitting the campaign trail with a potential running mate. And the Democratic due not holding back on their attacks on Donald Trump.

Also, Iceland is celebrating a historic victory for their football team. We'll break down a sport upset that no one saw coming. That's ahead.

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FOSTER: Iceland's captain absolutely ecstatic after scoring one of the greatest upsets in Euro 2016 history. They beat heavily favored England, 2-1, a result so shocking that it prompted England's manager to resign. But that's all over-shadowed by the sheer disbelief from Icelandic fans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you know, the Vikings are back. It's about eight of the Vikings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Small nation mentality is the best mentality in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:20:16] FOSTER: CNN World Sport's, Christina McFarland, joins us with more on this.

It's such an incredible story. A tiny country, 330,000 people. The coach is a part-time dentist, and England is one of the best teams in the world. Explain this one to us, Christina.

CHRISTINA MCFARLAND, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT: I know, Max. It isn't it disappoint, testify stating? England out of Europe for the second time this week a symbolic performance by the national team, 2- 1, lost to Iceland last night. It will go down as the worst moment in England's football history. Not just because Iceland are minnows, but because this tiny country came on out and they were rough, rugged, everything. They have more volcanoes than professional footballers. That is the situation. When you compare to the -- the furthest that Iceland had ever got previous to last night in an international competition was the quarterfinals of the handball competition at the London 2012 games. Well, I'll tell you what, now they're up against France is in the quarterfinals of the European championships. It is the most incredible fairytale story, one of, that I've ever seen.

FOSTER: Brilliant. You promised the best factor of the day, as well, more volcanoes than professional footballers in Iceland.

WALKER: Christina McFarland, Max Foster, thank you.

We're going to U.S. politics now and Donald Trump is backtracking on his most controversial proposal. The presumptive nominee is altering his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants from entering the United States. He will now call for a ban to apply to immigrants from countries with known terrorism links, and not specifically to Muslims. Trump is scheduled to give a major speech on the economy today.

One of Donald Trump's loudest critics is now on the campaign trail with Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is making a strong case as a possible V.P. pick for Clinton and she unleashed a blistering attack against Trump on Monday.

Senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, has the latest.

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JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren on the same stage in the same side. Warren withheld her endorsement for more than a year.

(CHEERING)

ZELENY: So they lingered today for nearly two minutes.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Whoa!

ZELENY: Soaking up the adoration from Democrats in Cincinnati.

WARREN: Thank you. I'm here today because I'm with her.

(CHEERING)

WARREN: Yes, her.

(CHEERING)

ZELENY: And then she got down to business.

WARREN: She knows what it takes to beat a thin-skinned bully who is driven by greed and hate.

ZELENY: For weeks, Warren has been needling Trump, which Clinton has enjoyed from afar. She beamed today at close range.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & SECRETARY OF STATE: I must say, I have to see how she gets under Donald Trump's skin.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENY: And Donald Trump may have been watching, sending out this tweet just minutes before they took to the stage, "Crooked Hillary is wheeling out one of the least productive Senators in the U.S. Senate, Goofy Elizabeth Warren.

Warren came armed with a response.

WARREN: Donald Trump says he'll make America great again. No, it's right there stamped on the front of his goofy hat.

(LAUGHTER)

You want to see goofy? Look at him in that hat.

(LAUGHTER)

ZELENY: The Warren/Clinton show, part pep rally, part audition, made clear the hatchet is buried against the two Democrats, at least publicly.

CLINTON: You just saw why she is considered so terrific, so formidable, because she tells it like it is.

(CHEERING)

ZELENY: On stage today, Warren said Clinton wasn't back down. WARREN: She gets up and keeps right on fighting for the people who

need her most.

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ZELENY: But she suggested in interviews and her 2004 book that Clinton caved on a bankruptcy book in the Senate writing, "It seemed Hillary Clinton could not have taken in as a position."

WARREN: She has taken money from the groups. And more to the point, she worries about them as a constituency.

ZELENY: Those concerns went unspoken today with one huge after another. But if Clinton would tap Warren as her running mate, they would surely return. For now, they share a common objective, stopping Trump.

CLINTON: Donald Trump proves every day he's not in it for the American people. He's in it only for himself. And Elizabeth reminds us of that every chance she gets.

[02:25:16] Hello.

ZELENY: And Clinton even struck a populist tone, sounding familiar strains to Warren and Bernie Sanders.

CLINTON: I got into this race because I wanted to even the odds for people who have the stocks stacked against them. And this is not a time for half measures. We've got to go big and we've got to go bold.

ZELENY (on camera): The scorn for Donald Trump was sharp and sustained. It's one thing that joins Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren. But it's important to note, Elizabeth Warren is not the only Democrat being considered. Tim Kaine, the Senator from Virginia, also in the hunt, as are other Democrats. But we're about one-month away from where Hillary Clinton will decide who her running mate will be.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Cincinnati.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: All right. When we come back, the U.K. may have voted to leave the European Union, but it's not a done deal until the British government pulls the trigger. We'll have the details, next.

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FOSTER: The first sign since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, British Prime Minister David Cameron will come face-to-face with his E.U. leaders. He's due to arrive in Brussels in just a few hours. That's where he'll be briefing the German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and other leaders.

The uncertainty surrounding Britain's anticipated exit from the E.U. is still rattling investors worldwide. Markets in Asia largely down today, though it's not nearly as bad as the last couple of trading days. And the British pound has been hammered, falling to a 31-year low. Standard & Poor's has downgraded the U.K.'s AAA rating, even though U.K. finance minister, George Osborne, insists the British economy is strong.

CNN political contributor, Robert Oakley, is here with me in London.

What's the place going to throw at us today?

ROBERT OAKLEY, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: You've got one party trying to find a new leader and one major party trying to get rid of their leader. That's basically what it's all about today. The Conservative Party has to find the successor to David Cameron as party leader who will automatically become prime minister.

Interesting poll today which says that Teresa May, the home secretary, a trusted pair of hands, who has been pretty low key through the referendum campaign, is now the favorite, according to one opinion poll. The opinion poll has the referendum wrong and the --

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: -- wrong as well.

OAKLEY: But interesting turn around, really. Back in April, Boris Johnson in many ways, the party favorite, led Teresa May, 36-14. Now she leads him 34 points to 21.

FOSTER: How does a Remainder possibly replace David Cameron in the place of Boris Johnson?

OAKLEY: I think because Teresa May was always a bit of a leaver by instinct, but was playing loyal with her government colleagues and, you know, always played it on a practical basis, she didn't show her face much in the campaign, so she's not identified with the Remain Campaign in the way the others are.

FOSTER: And she's hard line on immigration, as well. She's talking about controls, border controls.

OAKLEY: She always has been, yes. I think the key question, Johnson wins the crowds, he's a good performer, but he has a sense of humor. People may say, hang on a minute. He switched sides on this issue and maybe the country is in such a state, we don't want a joker, however good he may be at charming the voters. Maybe we want a safe, you know, pair of hands, maybe Teresa May could become our Angela Merkel.

FOSTER: People who outside the U.K. may not know, Jeremy Hunt, a cabinet minister, as well, he's very close to announcing himself had. He has all the language where he's saying, oh, I'm going to consider it. Pointing out in the papers today he would consider a second referendum. That's going to be his ticket, isn't it? But the election could come in the form of an election.

OAKLEY: Only if he runs. It's an interesting argument that he's advancing. He's says we had a referendum on in or out. We've not had a referendum on the terms on our. He's saying that whatever deal is done, probably ought to be put to the British people then in a referendum or in a party manifesto of the Conservative Party whose leaders will have negotiated it.

FOSTER: Talking about the current prime minister, he's in Brussels today for an awkward meeting with his counterparts. He could arguably blame him for this mess because he started off the whole referendum process. People say he shouldn't have done that at all. But he has to try to be constructive in the short time he has in office. Will he do that, do you think, for his successor?

OAKLEY: He has to try and prepare the way for his successor, yes. He's saying all the decisions will be taken by his successor. But, you know, if he can persuade the other European Union leaders to just have a little bit of a -- you know, informal discussion about the kind of shape a deal might take, that is going to help his successor in terms of the Brexit team who is going to put together Britain's negotiation.

FOSTER: I've just been told by a German MEP though, it is illegal to have pre-negotiations or informal negotiations or whatever. They're going to fight it tooth, aren't they?

OAKLEY: Talk over the dinner table has always gone on in politics.

FOSTER: But --

(CROSSTALK)

OAKLEY: However legal or illegal it might be, Max.

FOSTER: Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? But there will be some sort of -- they do have conversations, anyway, so these things are going to come up.

But we come back to this Article 50, don't we, and whether or not it will be invoked. And so many people, you know, for the further right of the spectrum suggesting yesterday that that article is irrelevant now. But Europeans, the way they look at it, Germany and France, there are rules, you have to stick back then and this is the only path to exit the E.U.

OAKLEY: Article 50 is what you have to trigger in order to begin the negotiation process. But the difficulty is the moment you trigger it, you're on a two-year time limit. And you could, at the end of the two years, reach no deal and be thrown out, anyway.

[02:34:39] FOSTER: OK.

That's the deal from the conservative side. We also have the defiant leader of the Labour Party saying he'll fight on in his job, and if there's another election, he's going to stand in it. Coming up, the political upheaval after the Brexit vote.

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FOSTER: In addition to financial markets, the Brexit has created a political vacuum here in Britain. Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation after the vote, but he says he's leaving it to his successor to trigger the mechanism to formally exit the E.U. Who will succeed him is the question.

The Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, faces a no-confidence, meanwhile, on Tuesday after a majority of his shadow ministers resign. He's been accused of running a lukewarm campaign in favor of staying in the E.U. and so should suffer the consequences. He's vowing to fight the leadership challenge, and he has some support.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me make it clear. If there is another leadership election, Jeremy Corbyn will be standing again next to me.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Corbyn was only elected party leader last year on the left wing agenda, backed by the unions, as well.

For more on the political upheaval, I'm joined by Andrew Blick, a lecturer on politics and temporary history at King's College, London.

And this is the sort of thing that people are waking up to today. We should point out that "The Mirror," a huge supporter of Labour and of Corbyn, so their turn.

DR. ANDREW BLICK, LECTURER IN POLITICS AND CONTEMPORARY HISTORY, KINGS COLLEGE, LONDON: The question is, is he going to start losing the grassroots? We know the parliamentary policy never really wanted him. It's the leadership method they used introduced previously that led to him being elected. They have --

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: You're saying the grassroots had more power in voting and he opened that up to more people.

BLICK: Exactly. So, and he had massive support from Labour members in the election campaign, no question about that. And the polling to date has shown that he's continued to sustain this, even though he hasn't necessarily performed politically as well in the country at large.

[02:40:10] FOSTER: A lot of those supporters are young, pro European, and pretty fed up with him for not championing their message.

BLICK: That may be the case. We haven't got any clear evidence of that. There's some evidence that the local authority level maybe a branch membership level that some people may be starting to question whether he's the right person. But as yet, we haven't tested whether he's losing the membership at large. That remains to be seen. FOSTER: Is he doing the best for the Labour Party? In principal, he's saying the Labour Party is much bigger than the parliamentarians here. So he's sticking up for all the people at the grassroots level. But at the same time, he's going to go to the polls and actually get to -- even if he wins again, he's going to be leading a parliamentary party that doesn't support him at all. That can't be good. They're the most powerful members of the Labour Party.

BLICK: With is the problem for Labour. It has three components to it, the membership at large can, the trade unions, as we know --

FOSTER: They're right behind him.

BLICK: -- they're right behind him for now, and the parliamentary party. If you can't get the three of them pulling together behind a single leader, you've got a problem. And that's why the Labour Party has such a problem at the moment, this divergence between the M.P.s in parliament and the other bits of the party.

FOSTER: How quickly can it be cleaned up? What's the process?

BLICK: Well, from the point of view from the parliamentary party, the idea of the outcome is Jeremy Corbyn --

FOSTER: Resign.

BLICK: -- resigns.

FOSTER: Which he won't do.

BLICK: Which he probably is not going to do. You can get a very messy contest.

FOSTER: A vote of no-confidence tonight.

BLICK: Perhaps a vote of no-confidence.

FOSTER: What does that trigger?

BLICK: Well, I don't think any real formal status but somebody would then have to challenge Jeremy Corbyn. He's says he would run if there's a leadership challenge. He's not just going to go away. That's his position for now. From there, you can get a messy leadership, but you could end up with Corbyn winning again and carrying on --

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: That's why it would be a very brave person who goes up against Corbyn?

BLICK: Yes, somebody has to be talked into do it. It's not clear who it is, who would be up for that job. And if they don't win, if the parliamentary party is still stuck with a leader they're not happy with, where do they go from there? That's not clear yet. FOSTER: And it's not healthy having a weak opposition at the

movement. This is a political crisis facing the country and we're about to do to an economic crisis. It's not a good time to have a weak opposition.

BLICK: Normally, right now, given the position is government is in, it expects an opposition to be in a very strong position. And for them to be welcoming the idea of an early general election, in fact, it seems more likely it's the government they'll want an early generation and install a new prime minister, and the opposition won't want it. It's a very usual position to be in.

FOSTER: He's someone that was voted in by the grassroots.

BLICK: Yes.

FOSTER: He has that support. He could step in. Where's he standing?

BLICK: What interesting is, like the leader, Tom Watson, he's got his own mandate, probably as powerful a mandate as Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn repeatedly refers to this mandate, and this gives him some kind of strength over the parliamentary party, even though they don't want him. But Watson also has a mandate and he may be at some point fail to deploy that mandate and maybe step in as an interim leader, whether the parliamentary party him either is another question.

FOSTER: Heard some funny comments -- I say funny -- they won't happen, but the talk of Nicola Sturgeon becoming prime minister of England as well as Scotland.

BLICK: Well, stranger are perhaps going on --

(CROSSTALK)

FOSTER: The point being she's shown real leadership, hasn't she?

BLICK: Indeed, the SNP, the only people who seem to have had a clear plan to respond to this referendum. Unfortunately, their plan involves leaving the country.

FOSTER: OK thank you very much, indeed, for that. It's horribly complicated. Scotland trying to figure out a way to stay in the European Union. The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, set to make some type of formal announcement in the Scottish Commons in the coming hours.

David McKenzie joins us now from Edinburgh, Scotland.

David, everyone going back to that question of independence.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And I think that before that question can be answered, the first thing you'll probably see from Nicola Sturgeon, the head of the Scottish National Party, is trying to reach out across the aisle if in the Scottish parliament and convince the Conservatives particularly in the parliament to try and back her on all aspects of trying to stay in the E.U. That's probably easier because of the mandate they've been given by the people. More than 60 percent voting to stay in the E.U. That will be her primary goal, to try to get that across parliament to push by any means necessary to stay in the E.U. Then, the question is, can she get backing potentially for an independence vote? That might be a slightly harder prospect with Conservatives. That's the options they may go for. But in the last few days, you've heard less noise about a timeline on that vote and more talk of unity in the face of trying to stay in the E.U. -- Max?

[02:45:23] FOSTER: And has there been polling, in commentary in the papers to suggest Scots are behind her or is this a case of the Scottish National Party trying to build on the moment that's got here?

MCKENZIE: There's politics at play, like all of this. Politics is always a local issue. But here in Scotland, talking to people on the street and the scientific online polls that have been held on in the last few days, there appears to be a great deal of admiration of support for Nicola Sturgeon trying to stay in the E.U. That's backed by the referendum results. But there's a sense that she had a plan, like your previous guest say. There is a sense the Scottish National Party and maybe Scotland parliament, in general, was prepared for this eventuality, and now they're trying to unify compared to the chaos that you see in Westminster to put a united front to Europe directly, looking eastward, not southward, to try and stay in the union. It's a long, legal and diplomatic process to do that with no clear answers but they certainly are in parliament today going to try and some unity to stay in the union.

FOSTER: David McKenzie, in Edinburgh, the glorious castle there, better weather than it is down here. Thank you very much for that.

We'll have much more coverage of the referendum's consequences coming up. But first, we'll check some other news stories after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:5046:] WALKER: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Amara Walker. We're going to go back to Max Foster and our Brexit coverage in just a moment.

But first, a check of some of the other stories we are following.

The U.S. Supreme Court has made its most significant decision on abortion in the past two decades. The ruling could have a major impact on efforts to limit access to clinics that perform abortions.

Mary Maloney has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CHEERING)

MARY MALONEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cheers and hugs outside the highest court in the land after the Supreme Court struck down a Texas law restricting access to abortion. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After years of fighting heartless anti-choice

politicians hold seemingly stop at nothing to the put abortion out of reach, I want everyone to understand, you don't mess with Texas women.

(CHEERING)

MALONEY: The law required abortion clinics to upgrade their facilities to hospital-like standards and mandated clinic doctors have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

Supporters of the law argued it raised the level of care for women.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even one having an abortion, it doesn't matter what you're in the hospital for or in a clinic for, you should have the ultimate safety standards. We're not a third world country, but the Supreme Court leftists apparently don't understand that.

MALONEY: The law's opponents said it would have closed all but a handful of clinics in Texas.

In the majority opinion, Justice Steven Breyer wrote, "The Texas law provides few if any health benefits for women seeking abortions, posses a substantial obstacle to women seeking abortions, and constitutes an undue burden on their constitutional right to do so."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Women across America have had their constitutional rights vindicated.

MALONEY: In a bitter dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote, "The court has simultaneously transformed judicially created rights, like the right to abortion, into preferred constitutional rights while disfavoring many of the rights actually enumerated in the Constitution."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were really disappointed. The five justices did let us down. But the pro life generation is coming back stronger than ever.

MALONEY: I'm Mary Maloney, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: The Supreme Court also threw out the conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. He was found guilty of federal corruption in 2014 for taking gifts, money and loans in exchange for official acts. The court said while McDonnell's action were distasteful, they did not amount to official acts. The unanimous decision leaves open the possibility for a retrial.

(HEADLINES)

[02:55:26] WALKER: I am Amara Walker. Up next, more CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster, outside London's Houses of parliament, and Rosemary Church, at CNN Center. And make sure to stick with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [03:00:08] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.