Talk:2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum

Lead: simultaneously woolly and definitive

I guess this relates in part to previous discussions, but currently the first sentence says:

• The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, also known as the EU referendum and the Brexit referendum, was an advisory referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to gauge support for the country either remaining a member of, or leaving, the European Union (EU) (my emphasis)

While the word "advisory" may be technically true in a legal/constitutional sense, it somewhat plays to a distinctly political point that the result need not, or even should not, be implemented. Nor does the word appear currently in the main body, which the lead is meant to summarise. The second highlighted phrase, "to gauge support", adds to that impression, as if the referendum was just a glorified opinion poll (which is the way people on one side like to talk about it), as well as being redundant to the extent that that is rather obviously what referendums do. Surely all the opening sentence needs to say is:

• The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, also known as the EU referendum and the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar on whether the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union (EU)

That is 100% accurate while both being more concise and avoiding any contentious phrasing that could be seen as slightly loaded in favour of one political narrative over the other. More detailed and nuanced discussion about status and legal debate is of course a matter for the body. N-HH talk/edits 14:50, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Someone changed the stable opening sentence a few days ago. I've changed it back. "referendum" doesn't need to be there four times; if you can find a wording that avoids the need for "was a referendum", then that could be better. EddieHugh (talk) 15:10, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Agree, "advisory" is not in the legislation, nor an established technical term. See United Kingdom invocation of Article 50 edit 12:25, 10 December 2016.[1] In this context it adds no useful information, and tends to mislead persons not otherwise better informed. Qexigator (talk) 15:22, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

• While "advisory" does not need to be mentioned in the opening sentence, it (or something equivalent) does need to be mentioned somewhere (if not already), as the result was not legally binding (only "politically" binding), according to numerous reports in the British media. 31.49.181.147 (talk) 04:23, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

Colour clash

It is a bit unfortunate that the map illustrating "Part of a series of articles on the United Kingdom in the European Union" uses colours in exactly the opposite way from "Results by voting areas" immediately above it. 31.49.181.147 (talk) 04:05, 21 December 2016 (UTC)

1974-75 EC renegotiation

What are the line of thoughts in the idea of setting up a separate article about the EC renegotiation of 1974-75 similar to the article UK renegotiation of EU membership, 2016 as currently the 1975 EC referendum article does not currently contain much information about what happened during the renegotiation itself. I would title the article UK renegotiation of EC membership, 1975. (2A02:C7F:5621:2A00:F8CC:FFAD:C0DB:7D63 (talk) 17:33, 24 December 2016 (UTC))

We could do it if there are enough sources available to put together an article. I imagine there would be; if not online then certainly from publications. This is Paul (talk) 17:59, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Could we get started as soon as possible there are briefing papers from the House of Commons which would be a good link to start off with. (82.132.215.212 (talk) 18:35, 24 December 2016 (UTC))

It's not something I'd want to take on myself, but I've created a redirect so that anyone who does want to do it can make a start. This is Paul (talk) 20:22, 24 December 2016 (UTC)

Expansion needed to UK EC Accession article

There's needs to be expansion to the Accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities article as currently there are blank sections that need filling or reformatting. Also we need sources to be added as well to the article. The article was created back in July and it was given a basic start but hardly if anything new has been added since and I feel we do need a separate article to fully explain how the UK became a member of the European Communities or the European Union as we now know it. (2A02:C7F:5621:2A00:E9C8:99E0:28B4:F2CD (talk) 11:28, 28 December 2016 (UTC))

Could this map be modified so that the UK is in orange just like the 2016 EU map of the same image? (MOTORAL1987 (talk) 15:46, 28 December 2016 (UTC))

Flag cruft on templates at the bottom of this article.

Most of the templates at the bottom of this article are 'decorated' with a flag in the title. Per wp:flags, these decorations should be removed. Material should have a country-name OR a flag, not both [and flags are primarily for use in tables where space is at a premium]. My attempts to apply this policy are being reverted so I am about to hit the 3RR rule. Does anyone else see this as an issue? Care? --John Maynard Friedman (talk) 23:34, 15 January 2017 (UTC)

Hey morons!

Who deleted the Electoral Fraud part of the article???

Some idiot Brexist?