Brexit/Background



{| style="width:65%;"
 * style="background-color: cream; border: solid 1px gray; padding: 1em;" valign="top" |

1975—1990
On 5 June 1975, the UK held its first national referendum, with the electorate asked to vote on the question: "Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?" Every county and region returned majority "Yes" votes, apart from the Shetland Islands and the Outer Hebrides. With a turnout of just under 65%, the outcome of the vote was 67.2% in favour of staying in the EC. Support for the UK to leave the EC in 1975, in the data, appears unrelated to the support for Leave in the 2016 referendum.

In 1979 the UK opted out of the new European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) which was the precursor of the Euro. In 1985 the United Kingdom ratified the Single European Act, the first major revision to the Treaty of Rome without a referendum. In October 1990 – despite the deep reservations of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher but under pressure from senior ministers – the United Kingdom joined the ERM with the Pound Sterling pegged to the Deutschmark.
 * }

{| style="width:65%;"
 * style="background-color: cream; border: solid 1px gray; padding: 1em;" valign="top" |

Maastricht and after
In September 1992 the UK was withdrew from the ERM after the Pound came under pressure from currency speculators (see ), at a cost to UK taxpayers in excess of £3 billion.

On 1 November 1993 the European Communities became the European Union as a result of the Maastricht Treaty, reflecting the evolution from an economic union to a political union. From 1 December 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon updated and renamed the Maastricht Treaty as the Treaty on European Union (TEU), and the Treaty of Rome as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
 * }

{| style="width:65%;"
 * style="background-color: cream; border: solid 1px gray; padding: 1em;" valign="top" |