General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWasn't it the Conservatives who used to oppose Britain joining the EU?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I remember from when I was a kid.
And now Cameron is a big EU booster.
MattP
(3,304 posts)Cameron is probably out either way
roamer65
(36,745 posts)Con PM Ted Heath was the leader that brought Britain into the Common Market.
The EU membership debate definitely splits across party lines.
I think it's best that Britain leaves. The EU of today is a completely different beast than the Common Market they joined in 1973. It is very bureaucratic and undemocratic.
forest444
(5,902 posts)Britain's entry into the EU had been blocked by opposition from French President Charles de Gaulle. Once de Gaulle resigned in 1969, however, the ball really began rolling on accession.
The Tories, who were led at the time by Ted Heath (a moderate on socioeconomics compared to "new right" types like Maggot Thatcher), were mostly in favor of accession thanks in part to heavy corporate lobbying. Labour, on the other hand, was split because many feared that increased competition from more industrialized countries such as France, Germany, Sweden, and to some degree Italy, would cost British jobs. There were also concerns over loss of sovereignty, which appealed to nationalists on both sides.
One particularly nationalist (some would say racist) Tory MP, Enoch Powell, even endorsed Labour in the 1974 elections out of his belief that a Harold Wilson government would lead Britain out of the EU. This, of course, never happened - in large part because when the oil shock plunged Britain into a deep recession (the pre-North Sea oil UK was hit harder than most developed countries), exports to the more bouyant continental market became crucial to mitigating the impact of recession (which they did).
Today, however, Britain keeps large and growing trade deficits with the rest of the EU - £24 billion ($35 billion) in the first quarter of 2016 alone - and that has certainly exacerbated euroscepticism in the UK.
It's a lot more complicated than just that, of course, and I'm sure some of our resident British contributors could elaborate further.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,322 posts)See page 6 of this: https://www.icmunlimited.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13-Jun.pdf
proportion voting 'leave' by party they voted for in 2015:
UKIP 95%
Con 51%
Lab 37%
Lib Dem 25%
Green 18%
Other 46%
In general, it's the centre that is pro-EU, the right and far left that is anti. Over the years, the size of the anti-EU Tory faction has grown (and spawned UKIP), and the size of the Labour anti-EU faction has decreased. The main reason Leave voters give is immigration - they want to stop the free movement of EU citizens into the UK for work.
Page 36 of this: https://www.ipsos-mori.com/Assets/Docs/Polls/pm-16-june-2016-tables.pdf
52% of 'leave' say "The number of immigrants coming into Britain" is a very important reason for their vote, compared with just 22% saying "Britain's ability to make its own laws". Another 14% say "Impact on public services/housing", and 10% "The cost of EU immigration on Britain's welfare system".
Recursion
(56,582 posts)It's an acute sickness, to be waited out.
In the UK, the majority of Labour voters support the EU, just like in the US the majority of Democrats support our trade agreements. There are some malcontents, nostalgic for a past that never really existed, on both sides of the pond who somehow blame these agreements for problems that have nothing to do with them.