Britain wasn't misled when we joined

It was 46 years ago today, on 1 January 1973, that the UK joined the European Economic Community, or as it was popularly known then as 'the Common Market'.

Two years later, in 1975, the then Labour government held a referendum on whether Britain wanted to remain in the Community - a mirror-image referendum to the one we had in 2016.

Brexiters today claim that the country was misled when we joined and only told during the 1975 referendum that the Common Market (now called the European Union) was just about 'free trade'.

But it isn't true.

It was clear even before we joined the European Community that it was much more than just a free trading arrangement. (Article continues after 5 minute video)

In the year before we joined, Prime Minister Edward Heath wrote for the Illustrated London News:

“The community which we are joining is far more than a common market. It is a community in the true sense of that term.

“It is concerned not only with the establishment of free trade, economic and monetary union and other major economic issues, important though these are — but also as the Paris Summit Meeting has demonstrated, with social issues which affect us all — environmental questions, working conditions in industry, consumer protection, aid to development areas and vocational training.”

For the 1975 referendum, the Labour government sent a pamphlet to every household which stated that the first aims of the Common Market were to:

? ‘bring together the peoples of Europe'

? ‘raise living standards’

? ‘maintain peace’

The pamphlet made clear that as a member, Britain has a 'say in the future economic and political development of the Common Market.’

If we left the Common Market, 'Britain would no longer have any say'.

It could not have missed anyone’s attention at the time that the European Community was about much more than just free trade.

Even the Eurosceptics of the time claimed that membership of the Common Market went beyond ‘free trade’.

Their ‘NO’ campaign referendum literature, also distributed to every household, warned what they considered were the dangers of membership:

? To end a thousand years of British freedom and independent nationhood is an unheard of constitutional change.

? Do you want us to be a self-governing nation, or to be a province of Europe?

? Do we want self-government as a great independent nation, or do we want to be governed as a province of the EEC by Commissioners and a Council of Ministers, predominantly foreign, in Brussels?

? Do we want to lose the whole of our individual influence as a nation, which is still great, in order to enhance the status of Europe, which would then function largely outside our control?

Although during 46 years of our membership, the fears and warnings of the 1975 ‘NO’ campaign have not materialised, their arguments haven’t changed.

In fact, the 2016 referendum simply regurgitated the same old arguments that took place in the first referendum of 1975.

There is little difference between the European Economic Community we joined on 1 January 1973, and the European Union of today on 1 January 2019.

It was a change in name only, as the 'European Community' and the 'European Union' share the same foundational principles, purposes and aspirations.

Afterall, even the idea of the Euro, which is 20 years old today, was openly disussed in the late 1960s, before we even joined the European Community (and Prime Minister, Edward Heath, referred to this before we joined).

Of course, in over 60 years since its foundation, the European Community has grown phenomenally from its original 6 members in 1957, with more countries wanting to join.

But that just demonstrates the success of the EU project.

Here's an idea:

The Conservative government under David Cameron could have saved a fortune by simply re-printing the Labour government's 1975 referendum pamphlet and distributing it for the 2016 referendum.

Almost all the points and arguments of then, and now, remain the same. Nothing much has changed.

Read the Labour government’s 1975 pamphlet and judge for yourself: www.1975pamphlet.reasons2remain.eu

? Words and video production by Jon Danzig