United Kingdom referendum, 1975
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The United Kingdom referendum of 1975 was a postlegislative referendum held on 5 June, 1975 in the whole of the UK over whether there was support for the UK to stay in the European Economic Community, which the UK had entered in 1973, under the Conservative government of Edward Heath. Labour's manifesto for the 1974 general election included a pledge for a referendum, so after Labour won under Harold Wilson, the referendum was held.
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Party support
The referendum was called in April 1975. Since Prime Minister Wilson's cabinet was split between strongly pro-Europeans and strongly anti-Europeans, he made the decision, unprecedented outside coalition government, to suspend the constitutional convention of Cabinet collective responsibility and allowed ministers to publically campaign against each other.
The "Yes" campaign was supported by Wilson and most of the cabinet, including Denis Healey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer; James Callaghan, the Foreign Secretary; and Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary. It was also supported by the majority of the Conservative Party, by its newly-elected leader Margaret Thatcher and by the Liberal Party.
The "No" campaign consisted mainly of the left of the Labour party, including cabinet ministers such as Tony Benn, the Secretary of State for Industry, Michael Foot, Peter Shore and Barbara Castle and many Labour backbenchers. Some members of the right of the Conservative Party also campaigned for "No" among them Enoch Powell. Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party publically supported the "No" campaign. The campaign also attracted support from the extreme right, such as the National Front, and the extreme left such as the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Funding and Media support
During the campaign, virtually all the mainstream national British press supported the "Yes" campaign, even the centre-right Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail. The communist Morning Star was the only notably national daily to back the "No" campaign. Television broadcasts was used by both campaigns, similarly to party election broadcasts in general elections. They were broadcast simultaneously all three terrestrial channels: BBC 1, BBC 2 and ITV, attracting audiences of up to 20 million. The "Yes" campaign advertisements were thought to be much more effective, showing their speakers listening to and answering people's concerns, whilst the "No" campaign's broadcast's were mainly speakers reading from an autocue.
The "Yes" campaign was much better funded from the outset. According to the treasurer of the "Yes" campaign, Alastair McAlpine, "The banks and big industrial companies but in very large sums of money". At the time, big business was "overwhelmingly pro-European", and Harold Wilson met several prominent industrialists to elicit support.
Tony Benn controversially claimed "Half a million jobs lost in Britain and a huge increase in food prices as a direct result of our entry into the Common market", using his position as Industry Minister as an authority. However, his claims were ridiculed by the "Yes" campaign, both by ministers, such as Roy Jenkins. The Daily Mirror labelled Benn the "Minister of Fear" and other newspapers similarly derisive.
Results
The electorate were asked to vote yes or no: 'The government have announced the results of the renegotiation of the UK's terms of membership of the European Community. Do you think that the UK should stay in the European Community?'
| Yes votes | Yes votes (%) | No votes | No (%) | Turnout (%) |
| 17,378,581 | 67.2 | 8,470,073 | 32.8 | 64.5 |
See also
- Referendums in the United Kingdom
- UK general election, 1974 (February)
- UK general election, 1974 (October)
Reference
- The Independent, June 4 2005, page 6 (source of quotations and most information in "Party support" and "Funding and Media support")
External links
- Copy of government pamplets for the electorate (http://www.harvard-digital.co.uk/euro/pamphlet.htm)