 An enactment that authorises an advisory referendum (which does not trigger a legislative change or bind the government to do something) becomes spent once the referendum has taken place.Hence the Referendum Act 1975 became spent after the 1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum took place, and was subsequently repealed by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986.Likewise the parts of the European Union Referendum Act 2015 that authorised the 2016 EU membership referendum and regulated its execution are now spent.