Europe is playing a prominent role in the campaign for the UK parliamentary election on 7 May 2015. Prime Minister Cameron has promised renegotiations over Britain's EU membership, followed by a referendum. There has been a referendum like this before:on 5 June 1975, the British were allowed to vote on whether the United Kingdom would remain a member of the EEC.
The referendum on Europe came two and a half years after Britain joined the European Economic Community (EEC). The British had doubted that accession for years. They had dropped out of the negotiations for the Treaty of Rome, which established the EEC in 1957, because they saw more economic benefits in their own Commonwealth. When the British changed their mind later, French President Charles de Gaulle twice blocked British accession, fearing a more Atlantic orientation of the EEC. When de Gaulle resigned in 1969, British Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath decided to make a third attempt. He hoped that membership of the EEC and the resulting access to the European Free Trade Area would provide much-needed boost to the ailing British economy.
Negotiations began in 1970. They were difficult. The British feared that they would become the victims of the common agricultural policy of the EEC. Within the EEC, farmers received export subsidies and those subsidies were paid for by import duties. Since the United Kingdom itself had a relatively small agricultural sector and imported a lot (particularly from the Commonwealth), the British negotiators foresaw that the common agricultural policy would be detrimental. Ultimately, the Heath administration felt that this disadvantage did not outweigh the benefits of accession. The British Parliament also felt the same way and after a marathon meeting of three hundred hours voted in favor with a narrow majority. On January 1, 1973, the United Kingdom joined the EEC along with Ireland and Denmark.
Uneven struggle
Not everyone was in favor of the terms under which the United Kingdom joined. In addition, the economic crisis continued. Opposition Labor party felt that the Conservatives had neglected British interests in the accession negotiations and made this a key issue for the parliamentary elections of 1974. Led by Harold Wilson, Labor promised renegotiations and a referendum on the outcome. This was not only intended to attract votes, but mainly served to keep the left wing of Labor, which even advocated exit from the EEC, within the party. Wilson chose 'fundamental renegotiations' as the invocation formula in the Labor election manifesto.
After a turbulent political year with two parliamentary elections, Labor finally managed to gain a small majority in parliament in October 1974. The new Prime Minister Wilson was able to negotiate with the other member states of the EEC. They were only willing to make minor adjustments and cosmetic changes as long as these could be achieved within the existing Treaties and did not entail major changes to the common agricultural policy.
The renegotiations were completed in March 1975. The British government had secured exemptions for imports of dairy and sugar from Commonwealth countries and, more importantly, the introduction of a 'correction mechanism' for import duty payments within the common agricultural policy.
Wilson had to admit that the changes were not fundamental, but he did speak of "significant and unexpected success in several areas." Wilson dared a referendum. What was special was that he left the members of his cabinet free to determine their own position. Ministers belonging to the left wing of Labor campaigned against British EEC membership, but at seven against sixteen they formed a minority in the cabinet.
The campaign leading up to the referendum was in any case an unequal battle. The pro-camp was made up of Labor leaders – alongside Wilson, right-wing figures such as Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Bill Rodgers and Shirley Williams – and almost the entire Conservative Party led by former Prime Minister Heath and newly appointed party leader Margaret Thatcher. . The anti-camp was a credible, half-hearted alliance of the left wing of Labour, the Communist Party and affiliated unions, some right-wing Conservative backbenchers, the far-right National Front and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish nationalist parties.
The anti-camp could count on little sympathy. Not only the British population, but especially the established order had little of it. Business, ahead of the City of London, and the media rallied wholeheartedly behind the pro-camp. As a result, supporters of British membership had more than twenty times more money to spend and a much more effective campaign.
Incompletely informed?
The results of the referendum were announced on 6 June 1975. With a large two-thirds majority, 17 million Britons were in favor of British EEC membership, compared to 8 million opponents. The turnout was very high with 65 percent of those entitled to vote. Prime Minister Wilson declared:"A verdict has been passed by a greater vote, by a greater majority, than any British government has ever won in parliamentary elections. No one in Britain or the rest of the world can doubt its significance. It was a free vote, conducted constructively and without rancor. This puts an end to a fourteen-year national debate.”
The opposite turned out to be true. In practice, the compensation mechanism for the common agricultural policy renegotiated by the Wilson administration did not produce the desired result. It was only in 1984 that Thatcher, as Prime Minister, was able to enforce a special repayment during the European Summit in Fontainebleau. Thatcher was no longer as pro-European as she had been at the time of the referendum. She wanted 'her money back', and she got it.
In the longer term, the referendum also failed to prevent the schism in his party feared by Wilson. In 1981, the pro-European right wing could no longer hold out with the anti-European left wing. Jenkins, Owens, Rodgers and Williams split to form the Social Democratic Party, which merged with the Liberals into the Liberal Democrats in 1988. Meanwhile, the left wing shifted Labour's course:during Thatcher's reign, the party openly argued for a departure from the EEC, without a referendum.
Meanwhile, public opinion was rife that the British public had been misled or, at the very least, incompletely informed about the referendum. The EEC soon proved to be about more than just free trade and the common market. The pro-campaign had conveniently omitted future plans such as the European Union and the Economic and Monetary Union, and the fact that European law took precedence over national law. The transfer of powers to Brussels was only mentioned in subordinate clauses. The anti-campaign was grossly exaggerated by stating that the common market was the prelude to the formation of a European superstate.
In retrospect, during the referendum, the British probably answered the question in the voting booth not so much as to which politicians they trusted the most. When Jenkins was asked to explain the referendum result, he said:"The British have followed the advice of the people they used to follow."
Better informed population
For Prime Minister David Cameron – an avowed supporter of Britain's EU membership, albeit seeking to 'retract' powers from Brussels in several areas – the big question now is what the British will do in a future referendum. Like Wilson, he has two wings in his party:a pro-European left wing and an anti-European right wing. Cameron hopes the renegotiation of powers will instantly end British discontent with European regulations, particularly on immigration, and both the grumbling right wing of his own Conservative Party and the populist UK Independence Party (UKIP). ) by Nigel Farage to take the wind out of your sails.
Cameron thinks he can get enough out of renegotiations to convince the British of his position. However, it is not certain whether that result will be sufficient, because the other EU Member States are not at all interested in renegotiations for the time being. Moreover, Cameron will have a harder time than Wilson in a referendum campaign. He has to deal with a very noisy UKIP, a critical media landscape and a more informed population. It is hoped for Cameron that the British will once again follow the advice of the people they are used to following.