At a glance 28 June 2016 EPRS | European Parliamentary Research Service Author: Eva – Maria Poptcheva, Members’ Research Service PE 583. 855
“The referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016 on the question of whether to remain in, or leave, the European Union resulted in 51.9% of those voting (on a 71.8% turn-out)supporting withdrawal from the Union. Although, formally speaking, the referendum was consultative, the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, and his government had indicated clearly in advance that the outcome would be considered binding. In announcing his resignation, Cameron said that the UK would activate the procedure set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) enabling a Member State to withdraw, but that this process would wait until his successor had been chosen (by October). In a resolution adopted at the conclusion of a special plenary session on 28 June, MEPs called on the UK government to instigate‘ a swift and coherent implementation of the withdrawal procedure’, to prevent ‘damaging uncertainty for everyone and to protect the Union’s integrity’…”