1. Why Stay?
1.1. Trade
1.1.1. More than 50% of exports go to EU countries. Outside the EU, the UK would lose the benefits of free trade with its EU neighbors and reduce their negotiating power with the rest of the world.
1.1.2. If the UK leaves with No Deal, it would automatically introduce trade tariffs under the World Trade Organization rules.. This would make products be more expensive for citizens of the UK.
1.1.3. Product Shortages!
1.1.3.1. The UK would lack many products and drive up the price of important commodities such as medicine and basic food staples.
1.1.3.1.1. This would primarily affect the elderly and the poor.
1.1.3.2. Some say that these shortages would cause riots!
1.2. Immigration & Borders
1.2.1. Many Remainers acknowledged that the pace of immigration had led to some difficulties with housing and service provision, but said the net effect had been overwhelmingly positive.
1.3. Job Loss
1.3.1. Pro-EU campaigners put economic security at the heart of their message, claiming three million jobs would be lost if Britain voted to leave. But Brexiteers branded the campaign “Project Fear”, dismissing it as a collection of gloomy fantasies.
1.3.2. Reduced immigration could also cause damaging skills shortages in the UK workforce
1.4. Security
1.4.1. Michael Fallon, who was defence secretary at the time, said the UK benefited from being part of the EU, as well as Nato and the UN. “It is through the EU that you exchange criminal records and passenger records and work together on counter-terrorism,” he said. “We need the collective weight of the EU when you are dealing with Russian aggression or terrorism.”
1.4.1.1. Colonel Richard Kemp, a former head of the international terrorism team at the Cabinet Office, said in The Times that these “critical bilateral relationships” would persist regardless of membership, and that it was “absurd” to suggest that the EU would put its own citizens, or the UK’s, at greater risk by reducing cooperation in the event of Brexit.
1.5. Sovereignty
1.5.1. For Remainers, it would result in the country giving up its influence in Europe, turning back the clock and retreating from the global power networks of the 21st century. To them, EU membership involved a worthwhile exchange of sovereignty for influence
1.6. Investment
1.6.1. Pro-Europeans argued that the UK’s status as one of the world’s biggest financial centres would be diminished if the City of London was no longer seen as a gateway to the EU for the likes of US banks. They also said financial firms based in the UK would lose “passporting” rights to work freely across the continent.
1.6.2. Business for New Europe said tax revenues would drop if companies carrying out large amounts of business with Europe - particularly banks - moved their headquarters back into the EU. Fears that carmakers could scale back or even end production in the UK if vehicles could no longer be exported tax-free to Europe were underlined by BMW’s decision, in 2016, to remind its UK employees at Rolls-Royce and Mini of the “significant benefit” EU membership conferred.
2. Why leave?
2.1. Trade
2.1.1. Leave supporters believe they would have greater trading power and seize new opportunities which they believe means more jobs.
2.1.2. Boris Johnson thinks the UK can get a trade arrangement based on Canada's free trade treaty (no tariffs) and thinks that would mean a "very, very bright future."
2.2. EU membership costs
2.2.1. The EU costs £350 million a week. Leave supporters believe that this money could better benefit the NHS (National Health Service) or even Education and Schools.
2.2.1.1. UK's EU membership fee in 2018: £17.4 billion. However, the UK received a £4.2 billion "discount" rebate and thus in reality paid £13.2 billion. The UK's EU membership fee
2.3. Immigration & Borders
2.3.1. Leave: The UK would be in charge of their own boarders & immigration (not by EU rules)
2.3.2. Under EU law, Britain could not prevent a citizen of another member state from coming to live in the UK, and Britons benefited from an equivalent right to live and work anywhere else in the bloc. The result was a huge increase in immigration into Britain, particularly from eastern and southern Europe.
2.3.2.1. According to the Office for National Statistics, in 2016 there were 942,000 eastern Europeans, Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK, along with 791,000 western Europeans and 2.93m workers from outside the EU. China and India were the biggest source of foreign workers in the UK.
2.4. Sovereignty
2.4.1. For Leavers, exiting the EU would allow Britain to re-establish itself as a truly independent nation with connections to the rest of the world.
2.5. Less Job Competition
2.5.1. Fewer people coming to the country would mean less competition for jobs among those who remained and, potentially, higher wages
2.6. Security
2.6.1. Former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who was in favour of Brexit, said Britain was leaving the “door open” to terrorist attacks by remaining in the EU. “This open border does not allow us to check and control people,” he argued.
3. Key People
3.1. Theresa May
3.1.1. Former Prime Minister / Former Conservative leader
3.1.1.1. The British prime minister was humiliated at the beginning of the year when her Withdrawal Agreement, put together after months of tense negotiations with the EU, was rejected in parliament by 230 votes, the greatest defeat of a sitting government in the U.K.'s democratic history.
3.1.1.2. Mrs May had been struggling to get parliamentary support for the legislation needed to implement the deal she had agreed with the EU on how the UK would leave the bloc. Her deal was rejected three times by Parliament. Efforts to find a compromise with the opposition Labour Party also failed.
3.2. Boris Johnson
3.2.1. the "British Trump". Current Prime Minister: leader of the Conservative Party (former Mayor of London)
3.2.1.1. "would rather die in a ditch than have another extension after Oct 31st"
3.2.1.1.1. Asked the Queen to suspend or "prorogue" Parliament for 5 weeks until October 14th
3.3. Jeremy Corbin
3.3.1. Corbyn is leader of centre-left Labor, the country’s biggest opposition party. Although he has been critical of the EU in the past, Corbyn wants Britain to "remain and reform."
3.3.1.1. Because Johnson's Conservative Party lost its majority, Corbyn's stance is crucial to finding a way forward on the issue.
3.4. John Bercow
3.4.1. his quick wit and “eccentric gesticulations,” the speaker of the House of Commons has become a critical figure in the Brexit crisis. Bercow serves as the procedural leader of the U.K.'s principal legislative body.
3.5. Jean-Claude Juncker
3.5.1. (Lux) President of the European Commission - currently in negotiations with Boris Johnson over the "deal" or "no-deal" Brexit
3.6. Nigel Farage
3.6.1. "Brexit Leader" / former Leader of UKip : United Kingdom Independant Party (a populist far-right libertarian party)
4. The 2016 Referendum
4.1. A public vote - or referendum - was held on Thursday 23 June 2016, to decide whether the UK should leave or remain. Leave won by 52% to 48%. The referendum turnout was very high at 72%, with more than 30 million people voting - 17.4 million people voted for Brexit.
4.1.1. Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty sets out how an EU country might voluntarily leave the union. Article 50 says: “Any member state may decide to withdraw from the union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements.”