On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted in a public referendum to leave the European Union. The margin of victory for the Leave Campaign was slight, 51.9% to 48.1%, and the fallout from the contentious and polarizing campaign has created perhaps the greatest rupture in British politics in over a century. David Cameron, the Conservative Prime Minister who initiated the referendum and led the unsuccessful campaign to remain in the European Union, resigned, stating that “fresh leadership was needed to enact Brexit.” In March 2017 his successor, Theresa May, triggered Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (“TEU”), the process by which a member state may leave the EU. The latter afforded the UK government two years to negotiate an exit deal. After failing to secure an overall majority in 2017, the May government was forced to rely (by virtue of a “confidence and supply” arrangement) on support from the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (“DUP”).
Kieran McEvoy,
Anna Bryson,
Amanda Kramer