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Britain and the EU - An Unstable Relationship

Europe has produced a polarised reaction from the UK since the birth of the European Economic Community. The issue has factionalized the Conservative party and swiftly brought an end to the tenures of disparate Prime Ministers since Britain joined in 1973. Britain has always viewed itself as a semi-detached member of Europe. It has avoided further integration at all costs; Britain never adopted the Euro, nor did it join the Schengen agreements and has consecutively resisted calls for a more centralized Europe. Many are cynical about Europe’s intentions, fearing that it will progress into a ‘superstate’ and sovereignty will no longer lie in parliament. Four years after 52% of the UK opted to leave the European Union, both legislatures and the public are still struggling to decide what a future looks like with the bloc.


A picture of the EU flag below the Union Jack.

From Economic to Political Union

The proposition of a diplomatic union between countries was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War with the intent to never replicate the horrors derived from the wartime period. The initial union was based on the idea of economic cooperation- the concept that countries who trade with one another become economically interdependent and so, more likely to avoid conflict. Thus, the European Economic Community was established in 1958 between six prominent countries. The EEC created a common market that featured the elimination of barriers that hindered the movement of goods, services capital, and labor, prohibited policies inhibiting market competition, and a common agricultural policy. The British government did not significantly engage in talks establishing the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Rome at the time in which the EEC was created. It disliked many of the supranational elements in the treaties, concerned it would damage links with Commonwealth countries, and instead wished to pursue a ‘one-world economic system’ policy in which sterling was a central currency. Hence, the UK was not a founding member of the EEC – something which has proved to have plagued both its interests and relationship with Europe. The EEC has since developed into a geopolitical union in which 22 members joined subsequent to 1958. The Maastricht Treaty signified the transition which had taken place throughout the existence of European cooperation with the EEC being rebranded as the EU.



Charles de Gaulle
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Why Britain Gave In

The years leading up to Britain’s first application to Europe in 1972 are renowned for the despondent mood of declinism that swept across the nation. Britain had faced its most dejected period since the Second World War. Britain could be defined by four aspects – conflict and class war in industry, a sharp downturn in the economy, a flight to extremism in political life, and a rise in public and domestic violence. Undoubtedly, each of these revealed a new pattern of internal vulnerability not experienced previously, and a marked contrast with the stable social democracy that the United Kingdom had appeared to be since the Second World War. This was echoed by political commentators in predominantly American literature on the future of Britain – The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failures in Britain (1977), The Politics of Economic Decline (1979), and Isaac Kramnick’s Is Britain Dying? (1979). Stop-go economic policies used to produce unsustainable short-term growth before an election had proven to cripple the British economy. Thus, despite both physically and culturally detaching itself from the union upon creation, Britain turned to Europe.

Britain’s first application to Europe took place in 1963 under Harold Wilson- an unenthusiastic man in regard to Europe but nonetheless prepared to enter should the terms be acceptable. Charles de Gaulle held an authority that no other elected politician of the time could match, and his wish was a Europe without British involvement. He vetoed Britain’s application on the grounds of commonwealth ties, domestic agricultural policy, and close links to America which he feared would jeopardize the union. The special relationship between Britain and America was, on behalf of a de Gaulle, a personal reason as to why Britain’s application failed. He distrusted the British to always side with America, thus bringing American influence into European policy. Britain made a second application in 1967. Charles de Gaulle had announced that he had vetoed the application once again on television before the British knew. The UK’s application for membership was not approved until the general fell from power and Ted Heath had become Prime Minister who was passionate about joining the EEC. The UK joined the EEC on January 1st, 1973 after ten years of trying along with Denmark and the Republic of Ireland.


A cartoon of the EU and UK flag being split.
Mrmw, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


The First Brexit Referendum

The first referendum on membership of the EU was held in 1975, demonstrating the continuity of Euroscepticism amongst British politicians. The referendum, based on a turnout of 64%, was finalized with 2/3 voting to remain, cementing Britain’s place for the next four decades. Analysis of data from the BSE 194-75-79 panel study exhibits how different demographic groups and party supporters voted at the polls. 88% of Conservative supporters voted to remain in the Common Market, as did 76% of Liberal supporters. Support for remaining in the EEC was lower amongst Labour supporters – although the majority – 58% - still voted to remain. Labour supporters were more than three times as likely to vote to leave as Conservative supporters and nearly twice as likely as Liberal supporters. The locus of anti-Common market sentiment was centred on the left of British politics in the years leading up the referendum and subsequently. Labour Euroscepticism, as Saunders has noted, was rooted in concerns over the EEC being a capitalist club, that it betrayed Britain’s Commonwealth links, that it was bad for poorer countries, and it took money away from domestic priorities.

In terms of policy debates central to the left-axis of British politics – such as redistribution of wealth, nationalisation, the role of trade unions, and the provision of welfare and services – those favouring left-wing solutions were less likely to vote to remain. Amongst those who thought redistribution of wealth was important, 65% voted to stay. Pro-remain voting was also higher amongst those who supported social services being cut back (73%) or partially (78%).


Margaret Thatcher in 1977
Marion S. Trikosko, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Thatcher and the weakening of relations

Margaret Thatcher’s premiership saw the consolidation in the split in the party that remains today between Europhiles and pro-Europe politicians. Considering her fiercely anti-European attitudes brought about her fall from power, she had not always been so vehemently opposed to European-wide initiatives. By illustration of this, she played a predominant role in campaigning for the UK to remain in the European Community in 1975. In 1978 she was pushing for a consideration of a common defence policy and criticising the Labour government for failing to sign up to the exchange-rate mechanism.

Once in government, her positive attitude towards Europe began to quickly deteriorate. In 1980 she called for a rebate as Britain did not benefit from the common agricultural policy as that of France. She threatened to withhold payments exclaiming “I want my money back”. This ended in victory for Thatcher. One of the most pivotal moments in relations between the UK and Europe alongside Thatcher’s fall from power came about against a split in government over whether to join the ERM. Thatcher’s Bruges speech came across highly offensive to European leaders and saw the resignation of Deputy PM Geoffrey Howe days later, initiating her final days as Prime Minister. Thatcher declared that “we have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels”.

2016 – A Result Derived From Views Set in 1958

Contrary to many beliefs about the 2016 referendum on EU membership, it did not come out of nowhere. It was a result of divisions within British politics that have been present since 1958. The campaign saw a flare of Eurosceptic views which relied heavily on a misinformative campaign. However, the voting patterns in 2016 based on political factors show some important differences from those that prevailed in 1975, reflecting the fact that the locus of Euroscepticism in recent decades has been on the right of British politics. In terms of party support, voting to leave was strongest amongst backers of parties on the right: 98% of UKIP supporters voted to leave and 58% of Conservative supporters did the same (as did 70% of those with no allegiance). Labour was seriously divided on the issue in 1975, with senior ministerial figures campaigning for and against the EEC, and Labour voters not being given clear or consistent party cues. In 2016, this was the situation in which the governing Conservative Party and its supporters found themselves. In 2016, just 36 percent of Labour supporters voted to leave, as did 26 percent of Liberal Democrat supporters, 21 percent of Green Party supporters, and 26 percent of those favoring other minor parties (including the SNP and Plaid).

Ideologically, in 2016, there was little difference in the leave vote across those categorized as right, left, or in the center, but it was much more common amongst those with an authoritarian orientation compared to those who were libertarian or neither. It was also much more prevalent amongst those with an anti-welfare disposition compared to those who were pro-welfare or neutral.


How to help

  • Educate yourself on both sides of the debate alongside the history of relations between the EU and UK to gage a well-rounded understanding of the origin of Eurosceptic principles.

  • Source your information from independent fact checking websites as political campaigns, on both sides in relation to the EU, have been muddied with misinformation


Sources


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