Global InformationProposed referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement information
| Part of a series of articles on |
| Brexit |
|---|
 |
|
Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Glossary of terms |
|
| Part of a series of articles on |
| UK membership of the European Union (1973–2020) |
|---|
 |
|
A referendum on the Brexit withdrawal agreement, also referred to as a "second referendum",[a] a "rerun", a "people's vote",[b] or a "confirmatory public vote", was proposed by a number of politicians and pressure groups as a way to break the deadlock during the 2017–19 Parliament surrounding the meaningful vote on the Brexit deal.
Following the invocation of Article 50 to begin Brexit negotiations, most proposals for a new referendum suggested a choice between accepting the negotiated withdrawal agreement and remaining in the EU, sometimes with the additional option to leave the EU with no deal. In the case of a three-option referendum, voting systems such as supplementary vote,[2] and Borda count[3] were suggested to allow people to state their second preferences.
Reasons that were cited as justification include campaign finance violations by Vote Leave and Leave.EU, the alleged use of data illicitly harvested by Cambridge Analytica,[4][5] revelations of Russian interference through fake social media accounts and allegedly through funding,[6] arguments that the "Leave" camp promoted misinformation,[7] a gradual shift in public opinion, fuelled in part by demographic changes such as adolescents who were too young to take part in the first referendum reaching voting age,[8] and that the eventually-arranged terms of Brexit were unknown at the time of the original vote.[9][10]
The most widely discussed proposal was a referendum between "Remain" and "Accept the deal", which was promoted by the People's Vote pressure group.[failed verification] This was the official position of the Liberal Democrats, the Green Party of England and Wales, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party. The Labour Party also adopted this position in September 2019.[11] The Conservative Party and Brexit Party were opposed to any referendum.[12]
On 12 December 2019, the Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson, won an 80-seat overall majority in the 2019 general election, ending the possibility of any referendum on the withdrawal agreement being held before ratification by the UK Parliament or before the UK left the European Union. Subsequently, the UK Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 which received royal assent on 23 January 2020, and the United Kingdom formally left the European Union at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020.
- ^ Bush, Stephen (26 February 2019). "What would happen if there was a second EU referendum?". New Statesman. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Greeningwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Xefteris, Dimitrios; Troumpounis, Orestis. "Brexit deadlock: this three-way referendum design could break it". The Conversation. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
- ^ "Brexit result has been thrown into question by the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, says Tory MP". The Independent. 30 April 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "Whistleblower: 'Cambridge Analytica scandal helped Brexit vote'". Evening Standard. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ McGaughey, Ewan (16 August 2018). "Could Brexit Be Void?". doi:10.2139/ssrn.3232632. S2CID 219363646. SSRN 3232632.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Fletcher, Martin (10 April 2019). "The "will of the people" is not set in stone – a second referendum is the only way to heal the nation". New Statesman. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ Ford, Robert (30 March 2019). "Brexit: how do voters feel about the EU now?". The Observer. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "The need for a second referendum". www.ox.ac.uk. University of Oxford. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ McRae, Belinda; Lodder, Andrew. "There's a democratic case for a second referendum – this is how it can be done". New Statesman. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "Brexit: Labour manifesto to offer vote on Leave and Remain". BBC News. 10 September 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
- ^ "Where parliament's warring tribes stand on what next for Brexit". 17 January 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).