Referendum on the UK's Membership of the European Union — Dates — 29 Feb 2016 at 18:30

The majority of MPs voted to set the date of the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union as the 23rd of June 2016, and to set other dates relevant to the regulation of the referendum.

The motion approved by the majority of MPs taking part in this vote was:

• That the draft European Union Referendum (Date of Referendum etc.) Regulations 2016, which were laid before this House on 22 February, be approved.

The regulations set the date of the referendum on if the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union as 23rd June 2016. (The European Union Referendum Act 2015 required the referendum be held before 31 December 2017).

The regulations also set^[1]:

• the start date of the "referendum period" as the 15th of April 2016. This is generally the date from which spending is regulated, with some exceptions. The regulations also set the dates for reporting periods, and dates for reporting donations, loans and similar to permitted participants.
• the date of the start of the referendum period, relevant for calculating the application deadline for to become a designated organisation to which public funding is available, as the 4th of March 2016. Under section 109 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 applications have to be made within 28 days of that date.^[2]

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• [1] Explanatory memorandum to the draft European Union Referendum (Date of Referendum etc.) Regulations 2016
• [2] Heading Assistance for designated organisations, Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000

Debate in Parliament |