Global InformationResults of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum information
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Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Results | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results by local voting area Leave: 50–60% 60–70% 70-80% Remain: 50–60% 60–70% 70-80% 90-100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| On the map, the darker shades for a colour indicate a larger margin. The electorate of 46.5m represents 70.8% of the population. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Glossary of terms |
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The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum took place in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on 23 June 2016.[1][2] Membership of the European Union had been a topic of political debate in the United Kingdom since the country joined the European Communities (then commonly referred to as the "Common Market" by the British people) in 1973. This referendum was conducted very differently from the European Communities membership referendum in 1975; a more localised and regionalised counting procedure was used, and the ballot was overseen by the Electoral Commission, a public body which did not exist at the time of the first vote. This article lists, by voting area for Great Britain and Gibraltar and by parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland, all the results of the referendum, each ordered into national and regional sections.
Under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015, there were a total of 382 voting areas across twelve regions, using the same boundaries as used in European Parliamentary elections since 1999, under the provisions of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002, with votes counted at local authority level. In England the 326 local government districts were used as the voting areas; these consist of all unitary authorities, all metropolitan boroughs, all shire districts, the London boroughs, the City of London and the Isles of Scilly.[3] The nine regions of England were then also used to count the votes at the regional level, with Gibraltar being regarded as part of South West England. Northern Ireland was a single voting area as well as being a regional count, although local totals by Westminster parliamentary constituency area were announced.[3] In Scotland the 32 Scottish council areas were used as voting areas, and there was a single national count.[3] In Wales the 22 Welsh council areas were used as the voting areas, and there was a single national count.[3]
Verification and counting began as soon as the polls closed on 23 June from 22:00 BST onwards (making it the first UK-wide referendum to be counted overnight) and took nine hours and twenty minutes to complete. The result of the referendum was forecast by the BBC just before 04:40 BST (around 6 hours 40 minutes after polls closed), with around 308 results declared at the time. The first result announced was Gibraltar, and the last was Cornwall.
On 24 June 2016, the recorded result was that the UK voted to leave the European Union by 51.89% for Leave to 48.11% for Remain, a small margin of 3.78%. This corresponded to 17,410,742 votes to leave and 16,141,241 to remain, a margin of 1,269,501 votes.
- ^ "European Union Referendum Bill (HC Bill 2)". Publications.parliament.uk. 28 May 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ Mason, Rowena; Watt, Nicholas; Traynor, Ian; Rankin, Jennifer (20 February 2016). "EU referendum to take place on 23 June, David Cameron confirms". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ^ a b c d European Referendum Act 2015 Section 11.