The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum took place in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

on 23 June 2016. Membership of the European Union had been a topic of debate in the

since the country joined the European Communities (then commonly referred to as the "Common Market" by the British people) in 1973. This referendum was conducted very differently from the European Communities membership referendum in 1975; a more localised and regionalised counting procedure was used, and the ballot was overseen by the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

, a public body which did not exist at the time of the first vote. This article lists, by voting area for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and Gibraltar and by parliamentary constituency for Northern Ireland, all the results of the referendum, each ordered into national and regional sections. Under the provisions of the European Union Referendum Act 2015, there were a total of 382 voting areas across twelve regions, using the same boundaries as used in European Parliamentary elections since 1999, under the provisions of the

European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 The European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (c. 24) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing elections to the European Parliament. The Act divided the United Kingdom into various regions to which were allocated a number of ...

, with votes counted at local authority level. In

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

the 326

local government districts The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

were used as the voting areas; these consist of all

unitary authorities A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

, all metropolitan boroughs, all shire districts, the

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

s, the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

and the Isles of Scilly.European Referendum Act 2015
Section 11. The nine regions of England were then also used to count the votes at the regional level, with Gibraltar being regarded as part of South West England.

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

was a single voting area as well as being a regional count, although local totals by Westminster parliamentary constituency area were announced. In

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

the 32 Scottish council areas were used as voting areas and a single national count. In

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

the 22 Welsh council areas were used as the voting areas and a single national count. Verification and counting began as soon as the polls closed on 23 June from 22:00 BST onwards (making it the first UK-wide referendum to be counted overnight) and took nine hours and twenty minutes to complete. The result of the referendum was forecast by the BBC just before 04:40 BST (around 6 hours 40 minutes after polls closed), with around 308 results declared at the time. The first result announced was Gibraltar, and the last was Cornwall. On 24 June 2016, the recorded result was that the UK voted to leave the European Union by 51.89% for Leave to 48.11% for Remain, a small margin of 3.78%. This corresponded to 17,410,742 votes to leave and 16,141,241 to remain, a margin of 1,269,501 votes.

United Kingdom

The final result of the referendum for the

and

was declared at Manchester Town Hall at 0720 BST on Friday 24 June 2016, after all the 382 voting areas and the twelve UK regions had declared their results, by the then Chief Counting Officer (CCO) for the referendum, Jenny Watson. In a UK-wide referendum, the position of Chief Counting Officer (CCO) is held by the chair of the

. The following figures are as reported by the Electoral Commission. With a national turnout of 72.21%, the target to secure the majority win for the winning side was 16,788,672 votes. The decision by the electorate was to "Leave the European Union", voters for which secured a majority of 1,269,501 votes (3.78%) over those who had voted in favour of "Remain a member of the European Union", with

and

voting to "Leave" while

and

voted to "Remain".

Results by United Kingdom regions

Results by United Kingdom constituent countries & Gibraltar

Results from the 30 largest cities in the United Kingdom

Out of over 33.5 million valid votes cast across the United Kingdom, over 8.8 million, or just over one quarter, were cast in thirty major cities that each gathered 100,000 votes or more. 16 of those cities voted to Leave, and 14 voted to Remain, or 53% Leave and 47% Remain. In those 30 cities, votes to Remain outnumbered those to Leave by over 900,000 (4,872,810 to 3,955,595 or 55.2% to 44.8%), while in the other voting areas, the votes to Leave outnumbered those to Remain by nearly 2.2 million (13,455,147 to 11,268,431, or 54.4% to 45.6%).

England

The English local districts were used as the voting areas for the referendum in

; these consist of all

, all metropolitan districts, all

non-metropolitan district Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shi ...

s, the

and the Isles of Scilly. Unlike the other constituent countries of the

there was no centralised national count of the votes in

as counting was done within the nine separate regions. Figures from

are included in the South West England region. England was broken down into 9 regional count areas using the same regional constituency boundaries as used in European Parliamentary elections.

East Midlands

The East Midlands region was broken down into 40 voting areas.

East of England

The East of England region was broken down into 47 voting areas.

Greater London

The Greater London region was broken down into 33 voting areas.

North East England

The North East England region was broken down into 12 voting areas.

North West England

The North West England region was broken down into 39 voting areas.

South East England

The South East England region was broken down into 67 voting areas.

South West England (including Gibraltar)

The South West England region was broken down into 38 voting areas.

Gibraltar

For the purposes of this referendum and as had been the case with previous European Parliamentary elections, the

overseas territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

was a single voting area placed in the South West England constituency. It is the first time the territory has taken part in any UK-wide referendum as it did not participate in either the original 1975 EC Referendum or the 2011 AV Referendum as Gibraltar does not send any Members of Parliament to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. T ...

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

West Midlands

The West Midlands region was broken down into 30 voting areas.

Yorkshire and the Humber

The Yorkshire and the Humber region was broken down into 21 voting areas.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was a single voting area, as well as being a regional count although local totals were announced in each of the Westminster parliamentary constituency areas within Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland local totals by Parliamentary constituencies.

Scotland

The Scottish council areas were used as the voting areas for the referendum throughout

. Scotland was broken down into 32 voting areas. While all council counting areas show a majority to remain, one constituency,

Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. It has a population of 35,742 (2001 Census). Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity. Banff and Bucha ...

, voted to leave by an estimated ratio of 54% to 46%. Voting to leave the EU was most concentrated around the north coast of Aberdeenshire between the fishing towns of Banff and

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

, where there were 23,707 Leave votes to 14,918 Remain votes (61% Leave 39% Remain). The areas of

Whalsay Whalsay ( sco, Whalsa; non, Hvalsey or ''Hvals-øy'', meaning 'Whale Island') is the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands in the north of Scotland. Geography Whalsay, also known as "The Bonnie Isle", is a peat-covered island in the Shetland I ...

and South

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

in the Shetland Islands and An Taobh Siar and Nis in Na h-Eileanan an Iar (The Western Isles) also voted by a majority for Leave, as did the town of

Lossiemouth Lossiemouth ( gd, Inbhir Losaidh) is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over ...

in Moray.

Wales

The Welsh council areas were used as the voting areas for the referendum throughout

. A total of 650,000 inhabitants born in England live in Wales (21%), with the areas with the highest percentages voting to leave. The majority to leave the EU was 82,000. The map shows council areas comprising ex-heavy industrial places and English-speaking as a common preference as areas where Leave won out. Parts of rural Wales also saw a leave-vote majority (but also Anglesey where Welsh is just as commonly if not more usually spoken). Cardiff, the Plaid Cymru heartland of the two council areas in West Wales, and by wafer-thin margins affluent Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan were the areas where Remain held sway. Note: In Wales under the

Welsh Language Act 1993 The Welsh Language Act 1993, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which put the Welsh language on an equal footing with the English language in Wales. The Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 had made English the only language of publ ...

the Welsh language has equal status with the English language. Wales was broken down into 22 voting areas.

Results by constituency

The vote was not counted by Commons seat except in

. Some local councils (districts) republished local results by electoral ward or constituency. Some constituencies are coterminous with (overlap) their local government district. For the others Dr Chris Hanretty, a Reader in Politics at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, estimated through a demographic model the 'Leave' and 'Remain' vote. Hanretty urges caution in the interpretation of the data as the estimates have a

margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in the results of a survey. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one should have that a poll result would reflect the result of a census of the e ...

Estimated net preference of constituencies by party of the incumbent

Please note that this table does not show how each party's traditional voters voted in the referendum. It shows the estimated (or actual) net decision in 648 of the 650 seats and the incumbents reflect those returned at the 2015 general election.

List of constituency results

While votes were tallied by district, there were two sources of by constituency result available within a short time of the referendum. Firstly a model by Chris Hanretty, based on the published results by district, and secondly 82 results calculated by the BBC based on ward results obtained from the local authorities. EU_Ref_Leave_Remain_RedBlue_52Split

In the following table, Hanretty's results are marked with "(est.)".

Most heavily tilted areas

Most heavily Leave areas

The following were the ten voting areas that voted most heavily in favour of leave. All but one of them were in the East Midlands and East of England regions, with four of the ten, including the top two, located in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

Most heavily Remain areas

The following were the ten voting areas that voted most heavily in favour of remain. Of the ten, seven were in the Greater London region.

Most evenly divided areas

The narrowest margin of victory for any of the 382 voting areas in the

was in the Scottish council area of Moray, which voted by just 122 votes or 0.25% margin in favour of Remain. In

the narrowest margins of victory for Leave were in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

which voted by just 252 votes or 0.54% margin in favour of Leave, and in Cherwell which voted by just 500 votes or 0.61% margin in favour of Leave. The narrowest margin of victory for Remain was in the

London Borough of Bromley The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,3 ...

, which voted by just 2,364 votes or a 1.30% margin in favour of Remain.

Narrowest Leave vote

Narrowest Remain vote

Turnout by age group

After the referendum, the annual ''British Social Attitudes'' survey questioned the public on their participation. Interviewing was mainly carried out between July and October 2016 and respondents were subdivided into three age groups (18–34, 35–64 and >/=65). The survey revealed that turnout was higher in the older age groups, and was 64%, 80% and 89% respectively. The age disparity had also been a feature of previous elections and referendums. However, compared to the previous referendum in 2011, the young voters' turnout in 2016 had increased sharply by 31%, while turnout by the two older age categories had also increased, but only by 26% and 21%.

Irregularities

In July 2018,

Vote Leave Vote Leave was a campaigning organisation that supported a "Leave" vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. On 13 April 2016 it was designated by the Electoral Commission as the official campaign in favour of leav ...

was found to have broken electoral law, spending over its limit, by the UK's Electoral Commission. Connected to this, the

Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It is the independe ...

found that data had been unlawfully harvested from UK voters, and issued a notice of intent to fine Facebook £500,000. Also, the House of Commons

Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, formerly the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, is one of the select committees of the British House of Commons, established in 1997. It oversees the operations of the Department for ...

, released an interim report on "Disinformation and 'fake news, stating that Russia had engaged in "unconventional warfare" through Twitter and other social media against the United Kingdom, designed to amplify support for a "leave" vote in Brexit. It also found that it could not be satisfied that the largest donor in the Brexit campaign,

Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...

, used money from UK sources, and may have been financed by the Russian government. In July 2018 the Electoral Commission,Electoral Commission
'Report of an investigation' (July 2018) Information Commissioner's Office,Information Commissioner’s Office, 'Investigation into the use of data analytics in political campaigns: Investigation Update'
10 July 2018
and the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee issued reports, finding variously criminal offences of overspending by Vote Leave, data offences, and foreign interference by Russia. In August 2018, this led to legal challenges to declare the referendum void for violating

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

and

United Kingdom constitutional law The United Kingdom constitutional law concerns the governance of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With the oldest continuous political system on Earth, the British constitution is not contained in a single code but princ ...

.'Grounds for Judicial Review' in '' Wilson v Prime Minister''
2018
. See further, E McGaughey,
Could Brexit be void?
(2018) SSRN, also summarised on
Verfassungsblog
/ref> In May 2020, the Electoral Commission, which had referred Banks to the

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...

for investigation of these allegations, conceded that he did not break electoral law during the 2016 EU referendum campaign.

Notes

References

{{United Kingdom elections 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum Referendums related to the European Union Election results in the United Kingdom