Event: LONDON

LONDON, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Actions by the British government during the European Union referendum led to public mistrust, a committee of MPs said Wednesday in a parliamentary report. The House of Common's Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee report said any future referendum in Britain should take note of the lessons learned from the way Brexit referendum was handled, including damage to the reputation of the civil service and the lack of preparation for either of the possible outcomes. The report said that while the then prime minister David Cameron's government did not support a Leave vote, they had a constitutional and public obligation to prepare for both outcomes from the referendum. "Unfortunately, many of the government's actions in the run-up to the referendum, which were easily avoidable, appear to have increased public distrust. The use of the machinery of government during the referendum contributed to a perception that the civil service were, in some way, biased," the report said in its conclusions. The MPs also said the presentation of government reports, particularly those from the Treasury, and the decision to spend 9.3 million pounds (11.7 million U.S. dollars) on sending a leaflet, advocating a Remain vote, to every home in Britain, were inappropriate and counterproductive for the government. The committee has recommended that in the event of future referendums, civil servants should be tasked with preparing for both possible outcomes. "Confusion as to the possible consequences of a referendum result serves only to heighten the potential tensions between referendums and representative democracy and risks increasing the public's disenchantment with politics," added the MPs. Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, said: "The use of the machinery of government during referendums has a significant effect on public trust and confidence. Referendums need to be designed in such…

A policeman stands guard at 10 Downing Street in London March 29, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday signed the Article 50 letter to officially begin Britain's exit from the European Union, nine months after the country voted to leave the EU in a referendum, local media said. (Xinhua/Han Yan) LONDON, March 29 (Xinhua) -- The formal triggering of Article 50 by Britain to quit the European Union (EU) on Wednesday drew mixed reactions on London streets. "I guess we are all Brexiteers now, but I really wish this had not happened," said Phil Patterson, a teacher from Bermondsey. "I voted remain, but it was a close call for me. In the end, I chose to put security ahead of having our own parliament totally in charge and my views haven't changed since the referendum," he told Xinhua. Bermondsey is a working class area of London. It is close to the new financial center of Canary Wharf, where international banks and finance institutions employ tens of thousands of workers. Goldman Sachs announced last week that over the next 18 months, it intended to increase its presence in Frankfurt and Paris as a result of the Brexit process. Goldman Sachs International CEO Richard Gnodde said that the numbers involved were in the hundreds. But on Friday last week, Deutsche Bank said that it would build a new headquarters in London for its staff, who are currently working at several sites across the city. Over at Canary Wharf, banking employees expressed their opinion to Xinhua about Article 50 on their lunch break. A financial analyst who have received education in Britain but with an overseas background, who asked not to be named, said that it was unclear how the Brexit process would affect the financial sector. He added that he…