The Parliamentary Path to the Brexit Referendum

Abstract This chapter explores the parliamentary developments before the Brexit referendum. It starts with the UK’s entry into the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1973 before covering the debates between the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, and the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Both Westminster’s main parties had conflicted views about how to respond to the referendum result. The chapter elaborates further on the divided political parties, correlating with the extent to which backbenchers can use parliament to exert their power. The use of referendums raised questions about parliament's sovereignty after David Cameron’s commitment to facilitate the vote in the 2016 referendum.