The European Union Withdrawal Agreement (Public Vote) Bill 2017–19 was a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...

of the

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to make provision for the holding of a “public vote” (

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

) in the

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and

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following the conclusion of negotiations by

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and the

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on whether to support the proposed exit deal for the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union or to remain a member state of the EU. The bill was sponsored by English

Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an el ...

MP Gareth Thomas. The bill failed upon the conclusion of the parliamentary session in November 2019, and withdrawal took place on 31 January 2020 without a second referendum.

Provisions

Public vote

The Bill proposed that a “public vote” (referendum) be held in the

and

before 1 February 2019 on whether to support the proposed Withdrawal Agreement which would take the UK out of the

or reject the proposed agreement and remain a member state of the EU. The Bill would have required the Secretary of State to lay before each House of Parliament a copy of the proposed Withdrawal Agreement no later than 31 October 2018.

Proposed public vote question

The Bill stipulated the following proposed question to appear on ballot papers: with the responses to the question to be marked with a single (X): The Bill also ordered the question to be printed in Welsh.

Definition of public vote

The Bill proposed to legally define the referendum as a “public vote” as follows:

(1) Subject to the following paragraphs— :(a) the provisions of Part 7 of the
Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom. It formed an important par ...
(general provision about referendums) apply to the public vote under this Act, and :(b) those provisions shall apply as if, for the words “referendum” and “referendums” in each case where they appear, the words "public vote" and "public votes" respectively. (2) It shall the duty of all public authorities, in publications and communications about the public vote provided for under this Act, to use the term "public vote" and not to use the term "referendum".

Outcome

The Bill stipulated that the proposed Withdrawal Agreement could not be ratified unless the following two conditions were met, as follows if more votes were cast in favour of “Support the proposed Withdrawal Agreement”:

Result of the Public Vote (1) The Government shall not conclude any agreement on terms of withdrawal from the European Union, or on the United Kingdom’s future relationship with the European Union until the conditions in subsection (2) are met. (2) The conditions are that— :(a) more votes are cast in the public vote held under section 2 in favour of the answer "Support the proposed Withdrawal Agreement" than the answer "Remain a member of the European Union", and :(b) the terms of withdrawal from the European Union have been approved by resolution in both Houses of Parliament. (3) The resolutions, under subsection (2)(b), in both Houses of Parliament must be passed within one week after the result of the public vote, held under section 2, is declared.

Majority for withdrawal

If more votes were cast in favour of "Support the proposed Withdrawal Agreement" then both Houses of Parliament would have been required to vote on whether to ratify the proposed Withdrawal Agreement within one week of the public vote result being declared, and the Secretary of State would have had to repeal the provisions to remain in the EU as follows:

(7) If— :(a) more votes are cast in the public vote in favour of the answer “Support the proposed Withdrawal Agreement” than “Remain a member of the European Union”, and :(b) the resolutions, under subsection (2)(b), in both Houses of Parliament approve the terms of withdrawal from the European Union, the Secretary of State must by regulations repeal section 5 (“provisions to remain in the European Union”).

Majority for remain

If more votes were cast in favour of “Remain a member of the European Union” then the Bill proposed to automatically repeal the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 upon the result of the public vote and required the Prime Minister to notify the EU of the UK's retraction of its

Article 50 Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) provides for the possibility of an EU member state leaving the European Union "in accordance with its own constitutional requirements". Currently, the United Kingdom is the only state to hav ...

notice as follows:

Result of the public vote: provisions to remain in the European Union (1) The European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 is repealed. (2) The Prime Minister must notify the European Commission of the retraction of the notification under Article 50(2) of the
Treaty on European Union The Treaty on the European Union (2007) is one of the primary Treaties of the European Union, alongside the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). The TEU forms the basis of EU law, by setting out general principles of the EU's ...
of the United Kingdom’s intention to leave the European Union.

Power to precipitate an early General Election

The Bill stipulated that if both conditions required to rectify the proposed Withdrawal Agreement could not be legally met (i.e., the Withdrawal Agreement was approved by "public vote," but rejected by Parliament) then the provisions of section 2 of the

Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed-term election, fixed election date for gener ...

would automatically come into effect within one week of the result, as follows:

..the provisions of section 2 of the
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed-term election, fixed election date for gener ...
("early parliamentary general election") shall apply in these circumstances as if the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...
had passed a motion under section 2(2) of that Act.

Legislative history

The bill passed its first reading on 9 May 2018. A second reading was originally scheduled for 6 July 2018, then delayed to 8 February 2019, and ultimately not held. The bill failed with the conclusion of the 2017–19 parliamentary session upon Parliament's dissolution on 6 November 2019 in advance of the 2019 general election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:European Union (Referendum) Bill 2013-14 Consequences of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum United Kingdom and the European Union Referendums in the United Kingdom Proposed laws of the United Kingdom 2018 in British politics Brexit-related statutes