We often hear about the will of the people, in relation to Brexit, but the statistics tell a different story. The majority of the UK electorate did not vote to leave the EU, only a minority of those who were entitled to vote did – around 38%.
Total electorate 46,500,001
17,410,742 people voted to leave the EU. 16,141,241 voted to remain in the EU. 25,359 people had their ballots rejected. That’s a total of 33,551,983 who voted.
12,948,018 people, therefore, did not vote.
The combined total of people who either did not vote, voted to remain in the EU, or had their ballots rejected is 29,114,618 – or 62.61% of the electorate. 62% of British voters did not vote to leave the EU.
29,114,618 British people did not vote to leave the EU.
That is 62% of the electorate in the advisory referendum which took place in June 2016.
Next time you are considering “the will of the people” – or “respecting the wishes of the majority” consider this point. 29,114,618 British people did not vote to leave the EU.
Breakdown of stats
- 46,500,001 Electorate
- 17,410,742 Leave
- 16,141,241 Remain
- 25,359 Rejected Ballots
- 33,551,983 Total who voted
- 12,948,018 Did not vote
- 17,410,742 – 37.4% – Voted for Brexit
- 29,114,618 – or 62.6% – did not vote for Brexit
You’re Havin’ a Graph
It should be noted that there are an estimated 18 million or so people who would have been eligible to vote, but who were not registered. My statistics ignore them, as well as other disenfranchised people living in Britain, because they would never have been able to have a say in this matter.
See the data here:
