The Road to Brexit - and After Quiz

Answer: In favour of the UK remaining a member of the EU

David Cameron was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom when the referendum was held. When he was the Prime Minister, the British government's official position on the issue was that it was in favour of the country remaining as a member of the European Union, provided four issues were renegotiated: protection of the single market for non-eurozone countries, reduction of red-tape, exempting the United Kingdom from an "ever closer union" with the European Union, and restricting EU immigration. However, he resigned from his post shortly after the results of the referendum were announced.

Answer: Alan Johnson, Labour Party

When the United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum was held in 2016, many politicians, celebrities, business people and other organisations aligned themselves as "Leave" or "Remain" supporters.

Officially, Members of Parliament were allowed to support either position, according to their personal convictions. Alan Johnson, who was a Labour Party MP, supported the idea that the United Kingdom should remain as a member of the European Union. In fact, he even launched a campaign called "Labour In For Britain" in 2015, in order to campaign in favour of the country remaining in the European Union. The Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, officially supported the "Remain" campaign, despite having been a vehement critic of the EU during his years as a back-bencher.

Steve Baker and Jenny Jones both spoke strongly in favour of leaving the EU. Gordon Wilson had retired as an SNP MP long before the referendum, and in fact died two days after it took place.

Answer: 52% of voters were in favour of the UK leaving the EU

When the United Kingdom European Union Membership Referendum was held in June 2016, about 52% of the voters voted in favour of the idea that the United Kingdom should withdraw from the European Union. The Government chose to honour the stated desire of the voters, and the process of withdrawal began.

Answer: 62%

Overall, Scotland came out as fairly strongly in favour of remaining in the EU. However, as the country had in 2014 voted to remain part of the UK, during its own Independence Referendum, it had to accept the overall "leave" result.

Answer: It fell to a 31-year low against the US Dollar

After the results of the referendum were announced, and it became clear that the United Kingdom had decided to withdraw from the European Union, the value of the Pound Sterling fell to a 31-year low against against a strongly-performing US Dollar, and remained low during the following months.

However, it wasn't all bad news. The Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 Index, although it fell initially, rose substantially in the following weeks, and continued to perform well. The UK's GDP continued to grow steadily, and other countries continued to invest in UK businesses.

Answer: Gina Miller

After the referendum result was announced, Gina Miller, an investment manager, hired the services of the London-based law firm called Mishcon de Reya and filed a suit in the High Court of Justice, challenging the authority of the British government to implement Brexit without first getting the approval of the British Parliament. This case is known as "R(Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting The European Union".

The High Court of Justice ruled that the British Parliament had to pass an act authorising the government to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty On The European Union. The British government appealed to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the High Court of Justice when it issued its verdict in 2017.

As a result, the British government introduced a bill, which was passed by the British Parliament in March 2017, known as the "European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017".

Answer: The European Court of Justice

The United Kingdom decided to leave the European Court of Justice in 2016, shortly after the results of the referendum became clear. However, by doing so, the country will lose patent protection for its companies, because it has to be a member of the European Union in order to be a member of the Unified Patent Court, which will be established on the basis of the "Agreement On A Unified Patent Court".

But even if the executive wing of the European Union, known as the European Commission, ignores this condition, the United Kingdom would have to continue its membership in the European Court of Justice because the Unified Patent Court would have to deal with the European Court of Justice on European law when it starts functioning and deciding cases on patent infringement, to figure out the definition it should use, depending on the type of patent case that it is dealing with.

Answer: Amsterdam, Netherlands

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union, which examines the use of medicinal products for member states of the European Union, in addition to the medicines regulatory agencies of each member state.

As a result of the referendum, EU ministers met to decide a new location for EMA's HQ. Countries such as Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Crotia, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden expressed an interest in becoming the new location. After several rounds of voting, the choice was narrowed down to two: Milan and Amsterdam. In the final vote, these two cities received 13 votes each, and after a drawing of lots, Amsterdam was chosen.

Answer: Paris, France

The European Banking Authority is a regulatory agency of the European Union
that was established in 2011, with its headquarters in London. The main functions of the European Banking Authority are to conduct stress tests on banks of the European Union, in order to increase clarity in the financial system of the European Union and secondly, to figure out and resolve weaknesses in the capital structure of banks in the European Union. In addition, it also investigates cases where it is found that a member state has not applied the laws of the European Union correctly or sufficiently, and tries to resolve conflicts between financial authorities of various member states.

However, as a result of the referendum, the European Banking Authority decided to shift its headquarters out of the United Kingdom, so that it can remain in a member state of the European Union. The countries that were taken into consideration for shifting the headquarters of the European Banking Authority are : Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and Poland. But in the end, France was chosen after a drawing of lots, and so the European Banking Authority will shift its headquarters to Paris, the capital of France after the United Kingdom formally withdraws from the European Union in 2019.

Answer: March 29, 2017

The United Kingdom formally began the process of withdrawal by using article 50 of the Treaty of European Union on March 29, 2017 when Tim Barrow, who was the Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union, formally delivered a letter signed by the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, to the President of the European Council in Brussels, Donald Tusk.

In the event, matters dragged out somewhat, and it was not until 31 January 2020 than Britain formally left the EU.