21 November 1974 occurred in Walden's constituency, the Commons soon debated whether the death penalty should be restored for terrorist murderers. Walden opened the debate by opposing capital punishment and declaring it to be "judicial execution" and "a cold-blooded act of the state to take a life". During the 1975 referendum on Britain's membership of the EEC, Walden spoke in favour of Britain remaining a member. Walden told the Commons: "I think that the anti-Market campaign will in the end... degenerate into narrow nationalism, the plea for a siege economy, for Socialism in one country. I was never very enchanted by the rhapsodies of the Eurofanatics but I certainly prefer their version of the future to that grim and barren alternative which it seems to me the anti-Marketeers will end up with". Walden became disillusioned with the Labour Party by the rise of the left and in May 1975, after Margaret Thatcher was elected Conservative leader), told Conservative Chief Whip Humphrey Atkins that he could bring six Labour MPs with him in crossing the floor. According to a Thatcher biographer, Charles Moore, Walden was "considered the most eloquent of his generation of Labour MPs" and was "more clear-sighted than most in seeing that Mrs Thatcher stood for real change". He also wrote that "as a grammar school meritocrat who had originally looked for social progress from the Labour Party, Walden recognized her as offering what he sought". At a meeting of the Warley East Labour Party in February 1976, Walden defended the government's policy and the benefits of the mixed economy against Stuart Holland's proposals for more socialist policies. In the Labour leadership election that was held after Harold Wilson announced his resignation, Walden voted for Michael Foot, rather than James Callaghan, because he considered Foot "a man of principle". After the first 100 days of Callaghan's premiership, Walden remarked: "If I had thought he was going to be as good as this I would have voted for him". In November 1976, Walden joined the fellow right-wing Labour MP John Mackintosh in abstaining on the vote for the government's Dock Works Regulation Bill and thereby wrecked its passage through Parliament. The Bill would have ensured that dock workers within five miles of any port or important inland waterway belonged to the Transport and General Workers' Union. The executive committee of Walden's constituency Labour Party supported his stance although left-wing demonstrators