The Brexit Referendum of 2016. Past and present in the relationships between the United Kingdom and the European Union and the case of Northern Ireland

On 23June 2016 the British People voted to leave the European Union, after a controversial referendum and more than forty turbulent years of membership. The referendum results forced Her Majesty’s Government to trigger art. 50 of the Treaty of the European Union. This fact plunged the EU and UK in exhausting negotiation to find a way for an orderly exit. The referendum experience was not new in the United Kingdom because the Labour party called a similar one in 1975. This article will highlight similarities and differences between the two referendums and the political and diplomatic consequences, particularly for Northern Ireland after the 2016 Referendum