,
6 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
A spokesman for Boris Johnson has described the EU referendum as "the biggest democratic vote in our history". A lot of people have asked us whether this is true. @FactCheck thread...
The 2016 referendum didn't (quite) attract the largest number of voters ever. Some 33,551,983 people voted in 2016, but slightly more votes were cast in the 1992 general election - 33,614,074. parliament.uk/documents/comm… 
Turnout was 72% in the 2016 referendum. Not especially high in historical terms: there have been 13 elections since 1945 with bigger turnouts, including in 1950 and '51, when it topped 80%. (House of Commons Library) researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefi…
But historically large numbers of people did vote Leave in 2016: 17.4m That's many more than the biggest ever number of votes scored by a party in a general election (14.1m won by John Major's Conservatives in 1992).
Slightly more people voted Leave in 2016 than voted to join the European Communities in 1975 (17,410,742 versus 17,378,581).
But that 1975 Yes vote was 67%, much higher than the 52% share that won the 2016 referendum for Leave.
But that 1975 Yes vote was 67%, much higher than the 52% share that won the 2016 referendum for Leave.
So was the EU referendum the biggest democratic vote in our history? It didn't see the biggest number of votes cast in a poll, or the biggest turnout.
But the Leave vote could be the biggest ever vote for a single issue or party.
But the Leave vote could be the biggest ever vote for a single issue or party.
