Come out of her My people!!!

[Meshelemiah]

Couldn't help but realize, that Article 50 which allowed Britain to leave the EU, might have prophetic meaning. Article 50!!!! Jubilee number!!!

Administration

Date

Prior to being officially announced, it was widely speculated that a June date for the referendum was a serious possibility. The First Ministers of Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales co-signed a letter to Cameron asking him not to hold the referendum in June, as devolved elections were scheduled to take place the previous month. These elections had been postponed for a year to avoid a clash with the 2015 General Election, after Westminster had implemented the Fixed Term parliament Act. Cameron refused this request, saying people were able to make up their own minds in multiple elections spaced a short time from each other.^[65]

In February 2016, Cameron announced that the Government was to recommend that the UK should remain in the EU and that the referendum would be held on 23 June, marking the official launch of the campaign. He also announced that Parliament would enact secondary legislation relating to the European Union Referendum Act 2015 on 22 February. With the official launch, ministers of the UK Government were then free to campaign on either side of the argument in a rare exception to Cabinet collective responsibility.^[66]

Eligibility to vote

The European Union Referendum Act 2015 dictated that only British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over 18 who were resident in the UK or Gibraltar would be able to vote in the referendum.^[67] British citizens who had been registered to vote in the UK within the last 15 years would also be eligible to vote.^[67]

The deadline to register to vote was initially midnight on 7 June 2016 but this was extended by 48 hours because of technical problems with the official registration website on 7 June caused by unusually high web traffic. Some supporters of the Leave campaign, including the Conservative MP Sir Gerald Howarth, criticised the government's decision to extend the deadline, alleging it gave Remain an advantage because many late registrants were young people who were considered to be more likely to vote for Remain.^[68] Almost 46.5 million people were eligible to vote.^[69]

There was protest by some residents of the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey that they should have the opportunity to vote in the referendum, as (although not part of the EU, unlike Gibraltar) EU membership also affected them.^[70]

Procedure for a withdrawal

There is no precedent for a sovereign member state leaving the European Union or any of its predecessor organisations. However, three territories of EU member states have withdrawn: Algeria (1962, independence from France),^[71] Greenland (1985)^[72] and Saint Barthélemy (2012),^[73] the latter two becoming Overseas Countries and Territories of the European Union.

Article 49A of the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009, introduced for the first time a procedure for a member state to withdraw voluntarily from the EU.^[74]This is specified in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, which states that:^[75]

1. Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.
2. A Member State which decides to withdraw shall notify the European Council of its intention. In the light of the guidelines provided by the European Council, the Union shall negotiate and conclude an agreement with that State, setting out the arrangements for its withdrawal, taking account of the framework for its future relationship with the Union. That agreement shall be negotiated in accordance with Article 218(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It shall be concluded on behalf of the Union by the Council, acting by a qualified majority, after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament.
3. The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.
4. Coverage of the issue in The Guardian includes an explanation as to Article 50 and how it would be invoked. "...there seems to be no immediate legal means out of the stalemate. It is entirely up to the departing member state to trigger article 50, by issuing formal notification of intention to leave: no one, in Brussels, Berlin or Paris, can force it to. But equally, there is nothing in article 50 that obliges the EU to start talks – including the informal talks the Brexit leaders want – before formal notification has been made. "There is no mechanism to compel a state to withdraw from the European Union," said Kenneth Armstrong, professor of European law at Cambridge University. ... "The notification of article 50 is a formal act and has to be done by the British government to the European council," an EU official told Reuters."^[76]
5. Remaining members of the EU consequently would need to undertake negotiations to manage change over the EU's budgets, voting allocations and policies brought about by the withdrawal of any member state.^[77]
6. Some constitutional experts have argued that, under the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Parliament has to consent to measures that eliminate EU law's application in Scotland, which gives the Scottish Parliament an effective veto over UK withdrawal from the EU,^[78] unless the Scotland Act 1998 is amended by the UK Parliament to reduce the Scottish Parliament's current powers.^[79] After the Leave result was announced, on 26 June 2016, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she "of course" would ask the Scottish Parliament to withhold consent and thus block the UK from leaving the EU.^[80] However, this interpretation of the 1998 Act is disputed. For example, sub-clause 7 of Clause 28 of the Act states that it "does not affect the power of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to make laws for Scotland."^[81]