# Terms of Withdrawal from EU (Referendum) Bills

Part of a series of articles on :
Brexit :
Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union
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European Communities Act
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Timeline Bloomberg speech Jan 2013 Referendum Bill blockedJan 2014 European Parliament election May 2014 2015 general election May 2015 Renegotiation begins Jun 2015 Referendum Act passed Dec 2015 Renegotiation concluded Feb 2016 Referendum held Jun 2016 David Cameron resigns as PM Jul 2016 Theresa May becomes PM Jul 2016 Article 50 judgement Jan 2017 Brexit plan presentedFeb 2017 Notification Act passed Mar 2017 Article 50 invoked Mar 2017 Repeal Bill plan presentedMar 2017 2017 general election Jun 2017 Brexit negotiations begin Jun 2017 Withdrawal Act passedJun 2018 Chequers plan presented Jul 2018 Withdrawal agreement plan presented July 2018 Withdrawal agreement released Nov 2018 Scottish Continuity Bill blockedDec 2018 Meaningful votes Jan–Mar 2019 Brexit delayed until 12 April Mar 2019 Cooper–Letwin Act passed Apr 2019 Brexit delayed until 31 October Apr 2019 European Parliament election May 2019 Theresa May resigns as PM Jul 2019 Boris Johnson becomes PM Jul 2019 Prorogation and annulment Aug–Sep 2019 Benn Act passed Sep 2019 Withdrawal agreement revised Oct 2019 Brexit delayed until 31 January Oct 2019 2019 general election Dec 2019 Agreement Act passed Jan 2020 UK leaves the European Union Jan 2020 Implementation period begins Jan 2020 UK–EU trade deal agreed Dec 2020 Future Relationship Act passed Dec 2020 Scottish Continuity Act passed Dec 2020 Implementation period ends Dec 2020 New EU–UK relationship begins Jan 2021 UK–EU trade deal ratified Apr 2021 Windsor Framework released Feb 2023 Windsor framework adopted Mar 2023 :
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The Terms of Withdrawal from EU (Referendum) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make provision for the holding of a second referendum in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar on whether or not to leave the European Union either before Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty can be triggered or following the conclusion of negotiations by the Welsh Labour MP Geraint Davies. The first version of this bill was presented in the 2016–2017 session of Parliament to the House of Commons and received its first reading on 6 July 2016 but lapsed when Parliament was dissolved. The Government triggered Article 50 at the end of March 2017.
A second version this bill was presented in the 2017–2019 session of Parliament, after Article 50 was triggered. The bill with its proposal to hold a referendum on the negotiated terms of withdrawal from the EU remains in the UK parliament and was first introduced to the House of Commons and received its first reading 6 September 2017 and its due to have its second reading on 6 July 2018.

## Origin

On 23 June 2016 the United Kingdom and Gibraltar voted by 51.9% to 48.1% to Leave the European Union in the 2016 EU membership referendum. The result saw contrasting views throughout the country with Greater London, Northern Ireland and Scotland strongly voting to remain whilst all the other English regions and Wales voted to leave.
The original 2016-17 bill sought to hold the proposed referendum before Article 50 could be formally triggered by HM Government however the bill failed to pass before the United Kingdom triggered Article 50 on 29 March 2017 and the snap general election which was held on 8 June 2017. This led to a second version of the bill which proposes to hold the referendum following the conclusion of negotiations between the Government and the European Union.

## Bills proposed referendum question

The bills give the proposed question to appear on ballot papers:
   Do you support the Government’s proposed United Kingdom and Gibraltar exit package for negotiating withdrawal from the European Union or Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?
with the responses to the question to be (to be marked with a single (X)):
   Support the Governments proposed exit package Remain a member of the European Union
The Bills also order the question to be printed in Welsh.