United Kingdom Legal Research Guide

The Origins of the Referendum

For those who do not follow British politics closely, the following articles provide some historical perspective on the UK's ambivalent relationship with the EU and the impetus for holding a referendum on EU membership.

• Britain and the EU:  A Long and Rocky Relationship (BBC)
• Timelines:  Campaigns for a European Union Referendum (BBC)
• Background to the UK's EU Referendum (House of Commons Library)
• Brexit:  How a Fringe Idea Took Hold of the Tory Party (Guardian)
• How Did the UK End Up Voting to Leave the EU? (Guardian)
   

Referendum Results

• Official Results (UK Electoral Commission)
  Includes UK-wide results and a breakdown of votes cast by region.
• EU Referendum Results in Maps & Charts (BBC)
  Color-coded maps and charts show the intensity of support for the leave and remain campaigns by voting area. 
• EU Referendum:  Results & Analysis (The Guardian)
  Provides a demographic analysis of the referendum results and a map weighted by population to more accurately reflect votes cast in urban areas.
• Local Voting Figures Shed New Light on Referendum (BBC)
  This demographic analysis reveals a strong correlation between the outcome of the referendum and the age and educational attainment of the voters.
   

The Road Ahead

The following resources summarize the process of withdrawing from the EU, the UK's options for retaining access to the EU's single market, and the constitutional implications for the UK's future as a unified state.

• Brexit:  All You Need to Know About the UK Leaving the EU (BBC)
• The New Divide:  A Hard or Soft Brexit? (BBC)

Source:  Brythones via Wikimedia Commons
CC BY-SA 3.0 License

Areas that voted to leave the EU are shown in shades of blue.  Areas that voted to remain are shown in shades of yellow and gold.  The map reflects the high degree of polarization between areas that voted strongly to leave (the Thames estuary, the English Midlands, and economically struggling, post-industrial regions) and those that voted strongly to remain (London, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Reading, York, and other prosperous urban centers, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland).