The final number of eligible voters was published after 9 pm on Thursday 23 June 2016 by the Electoral Commission. The following shows both the provisional figures and the final figures in heavy bold brackets. The result was declared by Chief counting officer (CCO) and the then chair of the Electoral Commission Jenny Watson at Manchester Town Hall on Friday 24 June 2016 at 0720 BST after all 382 voting areas and the 12 regions of the United Kingdom had all declared their results. Of the voting areas a total of 263 returned majority votes in favour of leaving the European Union whilst 119 returned majority votes in favour of continued European Union membership including every council area within Scotland on a national turnout of 72% and in the voting regions Scotland, Northern Ireland and Greater London voted to remain whilst all other regions including Wales voted to leave. The Act made no provision for the result to be legally binding on the government or on any future government; legally it was merely advisory. The result of the referendum required a single majority vote of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar with no super majorities, no double majorities of the constituent countries, nor any minimum turnout threshold required for the vote to pass. The Act did not specify any specific consequences that would follow the result of the referendum. In the event of a "Leave" vote, it was expected that the government would decide whether, when, and under what circumstances, the UK would invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union to begin a two-year process of negotiations for Britain to leave the EU. Since the Act was also silent on the question of executive prerogative, the question of whether the government or Parliament was entitled to invoke Article 50 was the subject of court proceedings ("Miller's" case). James Eadie QC, acting for the government, submitted in his address to the court that, because the Act is silent, it would imply that Parliament chose not to limit prerogative powers in this matter. On 3 November 2016, the High Court in London ruled that it is the responsibility of Parliament (and not of the Government unilaterally) to decide whether, when, and how the UK should set aside legislation (in this case, the European Communities Act 1972 that makes the UK a member of the EU). The court held that the referendum was "advisory for the lawmakers in Parliament", enabling the electorate to influence Parliament in its policy decisions. In interpreting the intent of the Act, the court considered the precedents of previous UK referendums. As a consequence, the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill 2017 was introduced into Parliament to gain Parliament's consent for the invocation of Article 50.