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Brexit: UK votes to leave EU in historic referendum - UPDATED

Brexit: UK votes to leave EU in historic referendum - <span style="color: red;">UPDATED

24 June 2016 07:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The UK has voted to leave the European Union after 43 years in a historic referendum, BBC reports.

Leave won by 52% to 48% with England and Wales voting strongly for Brexit, while London, Scotland and Northern Ireland backed staying in the EU.

The referendum turnout was 72.1% - with more than 30 million people voting - the highest turnout at a UK election since 1992.

British withdrawal from the European Union, often shortened to Brexit (a portmanteau of "British" or "Britain" and "exit"), is a political goal that has been pursued by various individuals, advocacy groups, and political parties since the United Kingdom (UK) joined the precursor of the European Union (EU) in 1973.

In 1975, a referendum was held on the country's membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), later known as the EU. The outcome of the vote was in favor of the country continuing to be a member of the EEC.

The UK electorate again addressed the question on 23 June 2016, in a referendum on the country's membership. This referendum was arranged by parliament when it passed the European Union Referendum Act 2015. The result of the referendum was to leave the European Union.

In a speech to the House of Commons on 22 February 2016, Cameron announced a referendum date of 23 June 2016 and set out the legal framework for withdrawal from the European Union in circumstances where there was a referendum majority vote to leave, citing Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union provides that: "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements." Article 50 was inserted by the Lisbon Treaty in 2007, before which the treaties were silent on the possibility of withdrawal.

A research paper presented to the UK Parliament proposed a number of alternatives to membership which would continue to allow access with the EU internal market. These include remaining in the European Economic Area (EEA) as a European Free Trade Association (EFTA) member, or seeking to negotiate bilateral terms along the Swiss model with a series of interdependent sectoral agreements.