In June 2016, following the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in which 51.9% voted in favour of leaving the European Union, Tim Farron said that if Liberal Democrats were to be elected in the next parliamentary election, they would not follow through with triggering of the Treaty on European Union and leaving the EU ("Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements") but would instead keep UK part of the EU. Following this promise, the Liberal Democrats claim that their membership has increased by 10,000 since the referendum; at one point, the growth in the party was the equivalent of one person joining per minute. Campaigning for a second referendum regarding the exact goals of Brexit negotiation was one of the party's flagship policies in the 2017 general election and the 2019 general election.