Brexit Timeline: Key Events From 2013 to 2020 Divorce

Nawal Sayed

Within a few hours, the United Kingdom will finally leave the European Union. The Brexit day, January 31, is set to be the porce day which ends more than three and a half year of negotiations, many resignations and a controversial prorogation.

At 11 pm the UK leaves the bloc, but talks with Brussels will continue on the terms of a trade deal due to be signed by the end of the year.

Here's the review of the key events since the historic referendum in January 2013.

23 January 2013:

During the era of a then-Premier David Cameron, an in-out referendum on EU membership was promised to be held if the Conservatives win the 2015 general election; especially amid pressures from many of his own MPs and with the rise of the UK Independence Party (UKip). Cameron pledges to vote to remain in the referendum, which he said would take place by the end of 2017.

23 June 2016:

The UK votes to leave the EU in a shock result that saw 52% of the public support Brexit in a humiliating defeat for the Prime Minister. A majority of voters in England and Wales have backed "Leave", but Scotland and Northern Ireland have voted “Remain”. Cameron quickly resigned, saying: “I don’t think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”

13 July 2016:

Theresa May took over as Prime Minister. Prominent pro-Brexit campaigners were given top jobs in May’s cabinet. There was shock in Europe as the post of foreign secretary, the UK’s top diplomat, was then filled by the distinctly undiplomatic Boris Johnson.

2 October 2016:

May told the Conservative Party conference that she would trigger the EU’s Article 50 – the mechanism to set the formal exit process in motion – by the end of March 2017. In a speech, she pledged to make the UK “a fully independent, sovereign country”.

10 November 2016:

The High Court rules against the Government and said Parliament must hold a vote to trigger Article 50.

29 March 2017:

May sent a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk, triggering Article 50. It sat the date for the UK’s departure in two years’ time: March 29, 2019. Tusk said it was not a happy occasion, telling a Brussels press conference his message to the UK was: “We already miss you. Thank you and goodbye.”

18 April 2017:

May announced a snap general election to be held on June 8.

May 2017:

The European Commission, mandated by the European Council, published its negotiating directives for the forthcoming talks on the UK’s withdrawal. The UK's financial settlement, citizens’ rights and arrangements for the Irish border were identified as key porce issues.

8 June 2017:

May lost her Commons majority and became head of a minority Conservative administration propped up by the Democratic Unionist Party. May was forced to do a deal with Northern Irish unionists from the DUP to stay in power.

17 July 2017:

Brexit talks officially got underway in Brussels between EU and UK negotiators.

22 September 2017:

In a crucial Brexit speech in Florence, Mrs May sends a message to EU leaders by proposing an “implementation period” of “around two years” after Brexit when existing market access arrangements will apply.

8 December 2017:

The UK and EU published a joint report outlining enough progress on key issues for talks to move on to future relations in the new year.

19 March 2018:

The UK and EU published a draft agreement on Britain’s withdrawal. But the agreement was not totally agreed.

19 June 2018:

Brussels warned that serious differences remained over how to deal with the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit.

6 July 2018:

A Cabinet meeting at Chequers agreed May’s new Brexit plans, including the creation of a new UK-European Union free trade area for goods.

8-9 July 2018:

The UK’s Brexit minister David Davis resigned in protest. Foreign secretary Boris Johnson followed suit the next day. Other ministers resigned too: in total, 18 would have quit over Brexit by the end of the year.

21 September 2018

May’s proposal for the Irish border was dismissed as illegal by Michel Barnier.

25 November 2018:

The 27 European Union leaders endorsed the Brexit deal.

12 December 2018:

May survived an attempt by Tory MPs to oust her with a vote of no confidence. Tory MPs voted by 200 to 117.

15 January 2019:

MPs rejected May’s Brexit plans by an emphatic 432 votes to 202 in a historic vote. It marked the worst government parliamentary defeat in the UK’s history.

12 March 2019:

MPs again rejected the Government’s Brexit deal by 391 votes to 242.

20 March 2019:

May asked the EU to delay Brexit from March 29 until June 30.

23 March 2019:

Hundreds of thousands of pro-EU protesters marched in London to demand a second referendum on the UK’s membership.

29 March 2019:

MPs rejected May’s Withdrawal Agreement by 286 votes to 344 on the day when the UK was due to leave the European Union.

10 April 2019:

A “flexible extension” to Brexit was agreed until October 31.

23 May 2019:

The UK took part in elections for the European Parliament, obliged to do so as it is still an EU member. The next day Theresa May says she will stand down as Conservative Party leader on June 7. She will remain as prime minister until a new leader in place.

24 May 2019:

May announced she was standing down as Tory party leader on June 7.

23 July 2019:

Boris Johnson was elected as leader of the Conservative Party and became the UK’s new Prime Minister after defeating Jeremy Hunt.

20 August 2019:

Johnson was rebuffed by Brussels after demanding major changes in a new Brexit deal.

28 August 2019: The Queen was dragged into the Brexit row as Johnson requested the prorogation of Parliament.

29 September 2019:

The Conservative Party conference opened, with a new slogan: “Get Brexit done”.

3 October 2019:

The UK government sent a new Brexit plan to Brussels.