Title: Britain and the EU: A long and rocky relationship - BBC News
Headings: Britain and the EU: A long and rocky relationship
Britain and the EU: A long and rocky relationship
The weight of history
BBC History: British history
An insular mentality?
Prof Vernon Bogdanor: Britain and the Continent
An end to war
Winston Churchill's 1946 Zurich speech (full text)
The Schuman declaration (EU site)
Step by step - how the EU grew
Britain wants in
James Ellison: Is Britain more European than it thinks?
Britain gets in
British prime ministers' key speeches on Europe
Role reversal
The 1970s - really that bad?
Rising antipathy
Margaret Thatcher's 1988 Bruges speech (full text)
BBC History: Thatcherism and the end of the post-war consensus
Humiliation
1992 and all that
Treaty of Maastricht
Building bridges...
Brown: I would have quit over euro
…and burning them?
Britain: Better off out or in?
View comments
More on this story
Around the BBC

Content: Is Britain more European than it thinks? Britain gets in
image copyright
AP
image caption
Edward Heath promised an economic boom, but it never materialised
Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath finally led Britain into the EEC in 1973, after Gen de Gaulle had left office. When membership was put to a referendum in 1975, it had the support of Britain's three main parties and all its national newspapers. The result was resounding - with more than 67% voting in favour. But that did not end the debate. There was no immediate economic fillip - in fact strikes and power cuts continued, and rising oil prices caused double-digit inflation. British prime ministers' key speeches on Europe
Role reversal
image copyright
Getty Images
image caption
Margaret Thatcher campaigned for EEC membership in 1975
image copyright
PA
image caption
Michael Foot (left) and his left-wing Labour comrades wanted Britain out
In the 1970s, the Conservatives backed British membership - though there was some opposition on the right of the party. The most concerted opposition came from the left of the Labour party, led by Tony Benn and Michael Foot. Mr Foot's 1983 Labour manifesto promised withdrawal from the EEC - by then more commonly called the European Community (EC) - after the pro-Europe wing of the party had split off to form the SDP. "Europe has been a toxic issue in British politics," Prof Bogdanor says, not just because it caused division between parties, "but also deep divisions within the parties".