Cameron Ally Says ‘Collapsed’ U.K. Faces Years of Brexit Woe

(Bloomberg) -- Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the U.K.'s vote to leave the European Union is “extremely unfortunate” for Britain and will create lasting chaos.

Rutte, one of Prime Minister David Cameron's key allies in Europe, used an address to the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg to give his account of the June 23 referendum and its impact on the EU. The Netherlands held the bloc's rotating presidency for the first six months of the year, a term overshadowed by the U.K.'s Brexit vote.

“That country now has collapsed -- politically, economically, monetarily and constitutionally,” Rutte told lawmakers Tuesday. Directing his remarks to British members of the 28-nation EU assembly, he added: “You will have years of work ahead of you to get out of this mess.”

Underscoring Rutte's point, an index of business confidence among British executives plunged and pessimism soared as the Brexit turmoil stoked concerns that investment and the property market are poised to slump. The pound dropped toward its lowest level against the dollar in more than three decades.

The Brexit vote created a “shock wave” that has pushed the EU into “uncharted territory,” Rutte said.

“It's a decision that creates a big problem both for the citizens of the U.K. and also for the other member states,” he said. The EU needs to proceed “with all due caution to minimize the damage to the member states and to the British people themselves.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at jstearns2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka