LONDON — The United Kingdom has left the European Union.

As the clock struck 11 p.m. in London, the U.K. ceased to be a member of the bloc after nearly half a century.

The British public voted narrowly in favor of Brexit in a referendum on June 23, 2016. That vote sparked more than three years of intense political negotiations and internal wrangling that triggered two snap U.K. elections and ended the careers of two British prime ministers.

The U.K. joined what was then the European Economic Community in 1973. But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that the bloc had “evolved over 50 years in a direction that no longer suits this country.”