VIEWS TO REMAIN OR TO LEAVE THE EU
2016 REFERENDUM RESULTS:
REMAIN: 48.1%
LEAVE: 51.9%
In 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron rejected calls for a referendum on the UK's EU membership, but suggested the possibility of a future referendum to gauge public support. According to the BBC, "The prime minister acknowledged the need to ensure the UK's position within the European Union had 'the full-hearted support of the British people' but they needed to show 'tactical and strategic patience'."
Under pressure from many of his MPs and from the rise of UKIP, in January 2013, Cameron announced that a Conservative government would hold an in–out referendum on EU membership before the end of 2017, on a renegotiated package, if elected in 2015.
The Conservative Party unexpectedly won the 2015 general election with a majority. Soon afterwards the European Union Referendum Act 2015 was introduced into Parliament to enable the referendum. Cameron favoured remaining in a reformed European Union and sought to renegotiate on four key points: protection of the single market for non-eurozone countries, reduction of "red tape", exempting Britain from "ever-closer union", and restricting EU immigration.
The outcome of the renegotiations was announced in February 2016. Some limits to in-work benefits for new EU immigrants were agreed, but before they could be applied, a country such as the UK would have to get permission from the European Commission and then from the European Council.
In a speech to the House of Commons on 22 February 2016, Cameron announced a referendum date of 23 June 2016 and commented on the renegotiation settlement. Cameron spoke of an intention to trigger the Article 50 process immediately following a leave vote and of the "two-year time period to negotiate the arrangements for exit."
Vote Leave is the organisation that successfully campaigned for a Leave vote in the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016. On 13 April 2016, Vote Leave was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leaving the European Union for the referendum on EU membership.
Vote Leave was created in October 2015 by political strategists Matthew Elliot and Dominic Cummings as a cross-party campaign, including members of Parliament from Conservatives, Labour, and UKIP. Labour MP Gisela Stuart served as chairman and leader of the Vote Leave Campaign Committee as Co-Convenor withs Michael Gove MP. The campaign was also supported by a number of prominent politicians, including Boris Johnson who became a key figurehead for Vote Leave.
Britain Stronger in Europe (formally The in Campaign Ltd.) is an advocacy group which unsuccessfully campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union in the 2016 British referendum. It was launched at the Truman Brewery in London on 12 October 2015 and declared as the official "Remain" campaign for the referendum by the Electoral Commission on 13 April 2016.
Following the referendum, many of the individuals involved such as Peter Mandelson and Roland Rudd would go on to form the Open Britain campaign group.
LEAVE VIEWPOINT:
REMAIN VIEWPOINT: