Brexit: The timeline so far
January 2013
David Cameron, UK Prime Minister, announces that his government will hold an in-out referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the European Union before the end of 2017 if his party wins a majority at the 2015 general election. Before the referendum he promises to renegotiate the UK’s membership terms.
7 May 2015
The UK holds a general election which gives David Cameron’s Conservatives an overall majority in the House of Commons. He finishes the night with 330 seats from the 650 available, effectively a 12 seat majority.
17 December 2015
The European Union Referendum Act 2015 gains Royal Assent to become law, after it was passed by 544-53 votes in the House of Commons and approved by the House of Lords. The new law made legal provision for a non-binding referendum to be held in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on continued EU membership.
February 2016
David Cameron begins his renegotiation with the European Union, he agrees to some limits to in-work benefits for new EU immigrants. Limits would be subject to permission from the European Commission and then the European Council.
22 February 2016
In a speech to the House of Commons, David Cameron announces that the referendum is to be held on 23 June 2016. He pledges to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty immediately following a vote to leave the EU. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty contains the legal framework for withdrawal and imposes a two-year time period for negotiations to be completed.
15 April 2016
Official campaigning begins in the run up to the referendum, the leave side is led by Vote Leave, the remain side is led by Britain Stronger in Europe. Political parties in favour of remaining included Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru. On the leave side there was UKIP, with the Conservatives taking a neutral stance.
23 June 2016
In an historic day the people of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar go the the polls to vote on their future either in or out of the EU. The question on the ballot paper was, “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union“.
24 June 2016, 4:39am
The BBC announce that they now predict that the UK has voted to leave the European Union with the vote ending on 52% leave and 48% remain.
David Dimbleby announces the result at 4:39am:
https://youtu.be/0ZSzvuXMpoc?t=9566
Of the voting areas in the UK and Gibraltar, 263 voted leave and 119 voted to remain. The final tally of votes showed a turnout of 72%, 17,410,742 voted leave with 16,141,241 voting remain.
24 June 2016
David Cameron resigns as PM, in a speech at Downing Street he says, “the British people have made a very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.”
11 July 2016
After all other candidates drop out of the Conservative leadership campaign, Theresa May is given the opportunity to lead the party and so become Prime Minister.
1 February 2017
The House of Commons votes 498-114 for the government’s bill authorising the PM to invoke Article 50 and so begin the UK’s departure from the EU. The bill passed into law as the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017.
28 March 2017
Theresa May signs the letter invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. The UK’s ambassador to the EU, Tim Barrow, hand delivers it to EU President Donald Tusk.
19 June 2017
Brexit talks officially begin between the government of the United Kingdom and the remaining 27 member states of the EU.
19 March 2018
An agreement is reached between the UK and EU about the transition deal following Brexit, the transition will have a time limit of 31 December 2020.
27 March 2019
The UK parliament votes to authorise the statutory instrument extending the article 50 period to 12th April 2019.
29 March 2019
The final day of the Article 50 notice period where the United Kingdom withdraws from the European Union.
12 April 2019
After parliament votes to extend article 50, the United Kingdom now leaves the European Union on this day.
23 January 2020
Having been passed by parliament (330 for and 231 against) the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020 gains Royal Assent. This bill sets the date of 31 January 2020 at 11pm GMT as the date that the United Kingdom repeals the European Communities Act 1972. An implementation period will follow and end on 31 December 2020.
31 January 2020
After three delays this is the day that the United Kingdom finally leaves the European Union.
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