BREXIT, THE UNITED KINGDOM VOTES TO LEAVE THE EU

Brexit

Today, The Grandma has been reading news about Brexit.

On a day like today in 2016, the Brexit referendum, took place in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of, or leave the European Union.

It seems a non-ended story with lots of problems, misunderstandings and difficulties. It seems easier to enter in the European Union that to leave it, at least, if we take Brexit as an example.

The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, also known as the EU referendum and the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate if the country should remain a member of, or leave the European Union (EU), under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 and also the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

The referendum resulted in 51.9% of votes being in favour of leaving the EU. Although legally the referendum was non-binding, the government of that time had promised to implement the result, and it initiated the official EU withdrawal process on 29 March 2017, meaning that the UK was due to leave the EU before 11PM on 29 March 2019, UK time, when the two-year period for Brexit negotiations expired.

More information: BBC

Membership of the EU and its predecessors has long been a topic of debate in the United Kingdom. The country joined what were then the three European Communities, principally the European Economic Community EEC or Common Market, in 1973. A previous referendum on continued membership of the then European Communities, Common Market, was held in 1975, and it was approved by 67.2% of those who voted.

In May 2015, in accordance with a Conservative Party manifesto commitment following their victory at the 2015 UK general election, the legal basis for a referendum on EU membership was established by the UK Parliament through the European Union Referendum Act 2015.

Pro and Anti Brexit Campaigns

Britain Stronger in Europe was the official group campaigning for the UK to remain in the EU, and was endorsed by the Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne.

Vote Leave was the official group campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, and was fronted by the Conservative MP Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove and Labour MP Gisela Stuart.

Other campaign groups, political parties, businesses, trade unions, newspapers and prominent individuals were also involved, and each side had supporters from across the political spectrum.

Immediately after the result, financial markets reacted negatively worldwide, and Cameron announced that he would resign as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party, having campaigned unsuccessfully for a Remain vote.

It was the first time that a national referendum result had gone against the preferred option of the UK Government. Cameron was succeeded by Home Secretary Theresa May on 13 July 2016. The opposition Labour Party also faced a leadership challenge as a result of the EU referendum.

Several campaign groups and parties, supporting both leave and remain, have been fined by the Electoral Commission for campaign finance irregularities, with the fines imposed on Leave. EU and BeLeave constrained by the cap on the commission's fines. There is also an ongoing investigation into possible Russian interference in the referendum.

Brexit, a portmanteau of British and exit, is the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU).

Following a referendum held on 23 June 2016 in which 51.9 per cent of those voting supported leaving the EU, the Government invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, starting a two-year process which was due to conclude with the UK's exit on 29 March 2019 -a deadline which has since been extended to 31 October 2019.

More information: Finantial Times

Withdrawal from the EU has been advocated by both left-wing and right-wing Eurosceptics, while pro-Europeanists, who also span the political spectrum, have advocated continued membership and maintaining the customs union and single market.

The UK joined the European Communities (EC) in 1973 under the Conservative government of Edward Heath, with continued membership endorsed by a referendum in 1975.

In the 1970s and 1980s, withdrawal from the EC was advocated mainly by the political left, with the Labour Party's 1983 election manifesto advocating full withdrawal.

Brexit Results Yes (Blue) vs No (Yellow)

From the 1990s, opposition to further European integration came mainly from the right, and divisions within the Conservative Party led to rebellion over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

The growth of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) in the early 2010s and the influence of the cross-party People's Pledge campaign have been described as influential in bringing about a referendum.

The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, pledged during the campaign for the 2015 general election to hold a new referendum -a promise which he fulfilled in 2016 following pressure from the Eurosceptic wing of his party. Cameron, who had campaigned to remain, resigned after the result and was succeeded by Theresa May, his former Home Secretary. She called a snap general election less than a year later but lost her overall majority. Her minority government is supported in key votes by the Democratic Unionist Party.

On 29 March 2017, the Government of the United Kingdom invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.

Theresa May announced the government's intention not to seek permanent membership of the European single market or the EU customs union after leaving the EU and promised to repeal the European Communities Act of 1972 and incorporate existing European Union law into UK domestic law.

Negotiations with the EU officially started in June 2017. In November 2018, the Draft Withdrawal Agreement, negotiated between the UK Government and the EU, was published. The House of Commons voted against the agreement by a margin of 432 to 202, the largest parliamentary defeat in history for a sitting UK government, on 15 January 2019, and again on 12 March with a margin of 391 to 242 against the agreement.

More information: Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce

On 14 March 2019, the House of Commons voted for the Prime Minister Theresa May, to ask the EU for such an extension of the period allowed for the negotiation. Members from across the House of Commons rejected the agreement with the leadership of the Labour Party stating in public debates in the House of Commons that any deal must maintain a customs union and single market, and with a large percentage of its members rejecting the Irish backstop as it is currently drafted in the EU withdrawal agreement. Opponents of the EU Withdrawal Agreement cited concerns that the agreement as drafted could plunge Northern Ireland into a conflict and spark a return of The Troubles as a result of Brexit.

The broad consensus among economists is that Brexit will likely reduce the UK's real per capita income in the medium term and long term, and that the Brexit referendum itself damaged the economy. Studies on effects since the referendum show a reduction in GDP, trade and investment, as well as household losses from increased inflation.

Brexit is likely to reduce immigration from European Economic Area (EEA) countries to the UK, and poses challenges for UK higher education and academic research.

As of May 2019, the size of the divorce bill -the UK's inheritance of existing EU trade agreements -and relations with Ireland and other EU member states remains uncertain. The precise impact on the UK depends on whether the process will be a hard or soft Brexit.

More information: BBC

Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union 

or leave the European Union?

-Remain a member of the European Union

-Leave the European Union

A ddylai'r Deyrnas Unedig aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd 

neu adael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd?

-Aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd

-Gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd