The people of the UK voted to leave the European Union in a non-binding referendum on 23 June 2016, an act which would effectively make the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border an external EU border. Due to the lack of supporting legislation, all referendums in the UK are not legally binding, which was confirmed by a Supreme Court judge in November 2016. Despite this, the UK government chose to proceed with the departure from the European Union. All parties have stated that they want to avoid a hard border in Ireland particularly due to the sensitive nature of the border.