Title: United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Headings: United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Contents
Background
Party support
Yes campaign
No campaign
Official party positions
The campaign, funding and media support
Counting areas
Nationwide Result
Results by Counting areas
England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
Wales
TV coverage
Reactions and consequences
See also
References
External links

Content: This later became the European Union. The support of the Conservative Party, under Leader of the Opposition Margaret Thatcher, was essential to the passage of the Government's European business in the House of Commons. Throughout this period, the Labour Party was divided, both on the substantive issue of EEC accession and on the question of whether accession ought to be approved by referendum. In 1971, pro-Market figures like Roy Jenkins, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, said a Labour government would have agreed to the terms of accession secured by the Conservatives. However, the National Executive Committee and the Labour Party Conference disapproved of the terms. In April 1972, the anti-Market Conservative MP Neil Marten tabled an amendment to the European Communities Bill which called for a consultative referendum on entry. Labour had previously opposed a referendum, but the Shadow Cabinet decided to support Marten's amendment. Jenkins resigned as Deputy Leader in opposition to the decision, and many Labour MPs abstained on the division. At the February 1974 general election, Labour's manifesto promised renegotiation of Britain's terms of membership, to be followed by a consultative referendum on continued membership under the new terms if they were acceptable. In the October 1974 manifesto, this was changed to the promise that Labour would "give the British people the final say, which will be binding on the Government – through the ballot box – on whether we accept the terms and stay in or reject the terms and come out."