The UK's EU referendum: All you need to know

This article is designed to be an easy-to-understand guide now that the UK has voted to leave the European Union.

What has happened?

A referendum - a vote in which everyone (or nearly everyone) of voting age can take part - was held on Thursday 23 June, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union.

What The Brexit Result Means For The UK Oil And Gas Industry

Britain has woken up this morning to the news that it will be leaving the European Union. The decision, won by a majority of just four percent, is not just the result of months of campaigning by Brexit supporters, but four decades of latent Euroscepticism. The populist will of the people has overruled warnings from politicians, economists, historians and all manner of other experts and set Britain on an uncertain course.

Here’s How the Brexit Will Actually Work

On signs and in speeches, Brexit supporters emphasized one particularly resonant argument: taking their country back from the faceless bureaucrats of the European Union. Now that they’ve won the historic referendum, however, some of the most important details about what comes next will be determined not by British voters, but instead by the very union they want to leave.

Does EU care about Brexit?

Less than fifteen days before the United Kingdom's (UK) referendum on Brexit, it seems that this topic is not at all on the frontline of public discourse in the European Union (EU). We are just witnessing "black o white" approaches, emphasizing on the dangers of leaving or the merits of staying in the EU.

A number of EU leaders and the President of the United States have stated that a possible exit would damage the UK in the sense that trade transactions and political influence will be severely weakened. Such statements have been coupled with ademonization of Brexit and the repercussions upon the status of UK in global scale, with many think-tanks in Brussels and the UK trying to depict these losses in numbers.

No, Paris Will Never Be the New London

As  the U.K. referendum on whether to remain in or leave the European Union draws nearer, politicians and bankers from other European cities are circling the prospective carcass of London’s financial center like vultures above a stranded, parched wayfarer.

Back in February, Emmanuel Macron, the French economy minister, said Paris would “roll out the red carpet” for U.K. bankers should the country vote for Brexit — and on Wednesday kicked off a new campaign to tout the French capital as a center of global finance. In May, Martin Shanahan of Ireland’s Industrial Development Agency said Brexit would help his quest to attract 10,000 financial services jobs to Dublin. Not to be outdone, Hubertus Väth, the managing director of Frankfurt Main Finance, has said his city, too,is ready for an influx of bankers from London. And similar noises have been emanating from Luxembourg, Amsterdam, Munich, Stockholm, and other European financial centers in the weeks leading up to the vote.

WHY THE EU'S MARKET MATTERS TO BRITAIN

Brexit would free Britain to sign bilateral free trade agreements with the ‘BRICS’ emerging economies, the Anglosphere and Japan without having to reach a consensus with 27 other EU member-states. The rest of the world is growing faster than the EU, and it offers opportunities that would make up for any forgone trade with Europe. This means that Brexit would boost the economy in the long term, especially if you throw in some deregulation to boot.

WOULD AN 'INDEPENDENT' BRITAIN WANT TO JOIN THE SINGLE MARKET?

Three economic rules mean that Britain would seek to join the EU’s single market if it were not already a member.

Both sides of Britain’s EU debate claim the mantle of free-traders. Pro-Europeans emphasise the potential loss of access to the single market if Britain quits the EU. Outers point to the EU’s declining share of world trade, and the opportunities that might arise from signing free trade agreements with countries outside Europe, without having to find consensus with 27 other states. A central question in the campaign has become: ‘Would Brexit boost or depress Britain’s international trade?’

DEAL DONE: NOW FOR THE HARD WORK

David Cameron did better than expected at the marathon Brussels summit. But his package of reforms will sway few voters, so he must now make the case for the EU itself.

Once David Cameron had won the May 2015 general election, and announced an EU referendum before the end of 2017, he was always going to find it hard to fulfil his pledge to achieve significant reforms to the Union. The final phase of the British renegotiation proved particularly tortuous. But on the night of February 19th a deal emerged and there will now be a referendum on EU membership on June 23rd. Why did Cameron struggle to win major reforms? What are the most significant changes that he has achieved? And how should he try to win the referendum campaign? 

CAMERON'S EU DEAL IS FAR FROM FIXED

The package of EU reforms unveiled by Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, on February 2nd, satisfied few British eurosceptics. David Cameron is now working hard to improve the deal at an EU summit on February 18th and 19th.

BREXIT AND EU REGULATION: A BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES?

When asked to name a potential upside to leaving the EU, many British business leaders point to the cost of EU regulation. Critics of the EU also argue that 'social Europe' – the EU's attempt to impose minimum standards on working conditions – has imposed unnecessary burdens on British employers, and that the European Commission's impact assessments are biased in favour of proposed rules. For some eurosceptics, the costs of red tape emanating from Brussels outweigh the benefits of membership of the single market. Are they right?

THE BREXIT EQUATION: EU MINUS UK = ?

Brexit would change the EU as well as the UK. What kind of partner would a diminished EU be for Britain and the rest of the world?

Most discussions of the UK’s possible exit from the EU focus on what Britain would be like afterwards: whether it could trade more freely with the world, escape EU regulations and reduce immigration. Equally important, however, is what the EU would be like afterwards; and how in turn this might affect post-Brexit relations between the UK and the EU.

IF THE UK VOTES TO LEAVE: THE SEVEN ALTERNATIVES TO EU MEMBERSHIP

In a new Centre for European Reform policy brief, ‘If the UK votes to leave: The seven 

alternatives to EU membership’, Jean-Claude Piris argues that none of the available options 

could satisfy both the UK’s political and economic interests at the same time. In exchange for

 access to the single market, Britain’s partners would demand that the UK apply corresponding

 EU rules, over which Britain would have little control. 

IN-WORK BENEFITS FOR EU MIGRANTS: HOW THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT DUG ITSELF INTO A HOLE

The UK could make both Britons and EU migrants wait four years before having access to in-work benefits, but the ECJ might still rule it illegal.

Today, David Cameron gave a speech and sent a letter to Donald Tusk, the European Council president, setting out his EU reform demands. Most of the reforms are not surprising, and compromise is achievable. But Cameron appears to be upping the ante on his key demand that is most difficult to achieve: that immigrants from the EU should be denied in-work benefits, such as tax credits and housing benefit, for four years.

THE CONTINENTAL VIEW OF CAMERON'S RENEGOTIATION

As EU leaders gather for their summit in Brussels on December 17th and 18th, they are puzzled by David Cameron’s fixation on excluding EU migrants from in-work benefits. On the other dossiers of the British renegotiation, compromises are within reach. But even the influential Germans cannot see how the disagreement on benefits can be resolved. This means that Cameron cannot secure a deal until the summit of February 18th and 19th, 2016.

CAMERON'S SECURITY GAMBLE: IS BREXIT A STRATEGIC RISK?

Alongside the Strategic Defence and Security Review, UK airstrikes in Syria may be a signal of renewed British involvement in international affairs – but the continued risk of Brexit hangs over the country’s relations with its allies.

CAMERON'S EU REFORMS: WILL EUROPE BUY THEM?

There will be no agreement on David Cameron’s reform plans at the European Council summit on December 17th-18th. But Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, will try to help Cameron bridge the gap between the UK and other member-states, possibly setting the stage for a final deal in February.

In a new policy brief, ‘Cameron’s EU reforms: Will Europe buy them?’, CER research fellow Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska asks which of Cameron’s reforms might be acceptable to his European colleagues, and which member-states will be the most and least helpful in achieving them.

Britain, immigration and Brexit

If the UK quits the EU, it will be because British politicians have pandered to anti-immigrant sentiment rather than addressing the supply-side failures that drive it.

If Britain votes to leave the EU it will be because of hostility to immigration. It will not be because of the threat of eurozone caucusing, the role of national parliaments vis-a-vis the European Parliament, regulatory threats to the City of London or concerns over the competitiveness of the EU economy. Disillusionment with the EU has risen in the UK because membership has become synonymous in many voters’ minds with uncontrolled immigration. Why has immigration, in particular EU immigration, become so toxic an issue in the UK that it could cost the country its membership of the Union?

Cameron's EU gamble: Five reforms he can win, and ten pitfalls he must avoid

As in 1975, a British prime minister is trying to win a new deal from the EU, before holding an in-or-out referendum. David Cameron will probably achieve reforms in five areas:

1) Making the EU more competitive. Everyone will agree on extending the single market into new areas and on the need for better regulation.

Power to the parliaments! But will Cameron's EU partners join his crusade?

David Cameron wants national parliaments to have more say in the EU, but other European capitals have little appetite for radical change. He should instead focus on improving existing mechanisms for parliaments to influence draft EU legislation. 

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has been touring European capitals to present his package for reforming the EU. Among other things, he wants a stronger role for national parliaments in the EU, but he has yet to make detailed proposals. Philip Hammond, the foreign secretary, calls this the “scoping stage” during which Cameron is testing Europe’s appetite for reforms.

Jeremy Corbyn and the rise of groupthink

Jeremy Corbyn’s rise to the Labour leadership heralds an era of ideological contest that threatens Britain’s membership of the EU – and the United Kingdom itself.



When does cosy consensus become groupthink? According to the social psychologist, Irving Janis, it is when the desire for conformity becomes so strong that alternative courses of action are not even considered, let alone taken.