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LONDON—The U.K. and the European Union now must navigate an unprecedented separation while trying to prevent political and economic turmoil.

British broadcasters forecast a vote to exit from the EU. The result marks the beginning of the end for the U.K.'s 43-year involvement in European political and economic integration.

The vote isn't legally binding, so Parliament now must pass laws to make Britain's exit a reality.

The vote for Britain's exit, or Brexit, from the EU will unleash a yearslong, highly bureaucratic tussle over how to actually achieve that. There is no clear road map. The vote marks the first departure from the modern-day EU, though Greenland in 1985 pulled out of a forerunner of the bloc, the European Economic Community.

In the U.K., the result is likely to have immediate repercussions for Prime Minister David Cameron, who campaigned to remain in the EU and who therefore suffered a bruising defeat.

Mr. Cameron is due to have his first post-referendum meeting with other EU leaders next week in Brussels at a European Council gathering scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Among Britain's next steps will be determining when to start the process of severing its ties to Europe. Under Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, a member can give notice of its intention to leave, opening a two-year window for negotiating terms of withdrawal, meaning the U.K. technically remains a member until its formal departure. The time period can also be extended.

The government hasn't spelled out exactly when it would seek to start the clock ticking. Some senior officials, including Mr. Cameron, have said they would enact Article 50 rapidly, however some supporters of Britain's exit have said the U.K. wouldn't need to rush.

One of the thorniest tasks will be to hammer out a trade deal between the U.K. and the EU's remaining 27 members. It isn't clear what access a post-EU U.K. would have to the bloc's vast single market for goods and services, or what terms the EU would demand in return.

Pro-Brexit campaigners offered differing views during the campaign over what shape any new deal might take, citing EU arrangements governing trade with Norway, Switzerland and Albania. The terms of access to the EU's market could be critical for the U.K.'s economic prospects.

Myriad other challenges face negotiators. Opposition to the free movement of EU citizens was one of the driving forces of the pro-Brexit camp. A British exit raises questions about the immigration status of current and future EU workers in Britain, as well as of the more than 1 million Britons living elsewhere in the EU.

The vote to leave also raises questions about the future shape of the U.K. itself. The debate underscored a divergence in public opinion between English voters and their often more pro-EU counterparts in Scotland, where nationalists harbor ambitions for a rerun of the independence vote they lost in 2014. Nationalist leaders in Scotland sent a strong signal before Thursday's vote that they would push again for secession if Britain chose to leave the EU.

The result is expected to trigger a slide in the pound and a selloff in stocks, said Yianos Kontopoulos, a strategist at UBS Group AG. Both had been gaining in the days ahead of the vote in anticipation of a win for the pro-EU camp.

The world's major central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, have signaled their readiness to step in and calm any turmoil in financial markets and, if necessary, make cash available in a variety of currencies to any banks that face a funding squeeze.

BOE Gov. Mark Carney has said the central bank will need to judge carefully whether to cut interest rates to support the U.K. economy should growth falter, or to lift borrowing costs to restrain inflation should the pound fall sharply.

Max Colchester contributed to this article.

Write to Jason Douglas at jason.douglas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 24, 2016 00:25 ET (04:25 GMT)

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