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Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union Glossary of terms |
"Why the Government Believes That Voting to Remain in the European Union is the Best Decision for the UK" (also known as the pro-EU leaflet, the EU leaflet, or the Brexit leaflet) was a one-off pamphlet created in April 2016 by the government of the United Kingdom. The leaflet was created in anticipation of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum in June, which would ask the British public whether the UK should leave the EU. After internal polling revealed that 85 per cent of the public wanted more information before making their decision, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the government would send a leaflet to households across the UK, explaining why remaining in the EU was the best choice for the UK. The leaflets were paid for by British taxpayers at a cost of £9.3 million, and were delivered across the UK in two waves: the first to households in England, and the second to households in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The 16-page leaflet warns the British public that Brexit would increase the cost of living in the UK,[1] damage living standards,[2] and lead to "a decade or more of uncertainty".[3][4] The pamphlet provoked immediate outrage from individuals and organisations that were campaigning to leave. Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, criticised the government for spending taxpayers' money on the leaflet, calling it "crazy" and "a complete waste of money",[5] while Vote Leave, the referendum's official campaign in favour of leaving the EU, accused Cameron of creating the pamphlet to distract media headlines away from his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal.[6]
The Brexit referendum was held on 23 June, with 51.89 per cent of the votes cast being in favour of leaving the EU. After almost four years of negotiations on the terms of departure and on future relations, the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020. In February 2019, an analysis of the impact on the British public of exposure to the leaflet concluded that it had led to a decrease of three percentage points in the probability of an individual voting to leave in the referendum.
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