A Look Back at the Last Time Great Britain Had to Vote About Europe
A Look Back at the Last Time Great Britain Had to Vote About Europe
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Beverley Pilkington, 22 year old model from Essex, wearing Pro Europe white tee shirt with the slogan, Europe or bust! May 19, 1975.Kent Gavin—Mirrorpix/Newscom
The last time the people of Great Britain were called to the polls to voice their views on their relationship with Europe, a landslide majority chose to stick together with the continent. Yet, the public debate was as polarized as it’s been this time around. as Britons head to the polls to determine whether they will leave the European Union.
For anthropologist Edmund Leach, for example, the anti-Europeans of the time were misty-minded isolationists who showed “the same degree of contact with rational probability as a New Guinea cargo cult,” as TIME reported in June of 1975. Meanwhile, in the same story, playwright John Osborne called joining with Europe “the last desperate dream of dull, dim tradesmen without vision, imagination or self-respect, feeling for life or history.”
A few days later, 17,378,581 people voted to embrace Europe’s Common Market, the precursor to the European Union.
As the fate of the European Union is once again in the balance, we take a look back at the contentious campaign of the early 1970s when Great Britain seemed as divided about its future as it is today.
Michelle Molloy, who edited this photo essay, is a senior international photo editor at TIME.
LREM Eric Littlehales, of Oswestry, Salop, ponders arguments for and against in the forthcoming National Referendum on the Common Market during a courtesy visit by HMS Fearless to Stockholm, 1975.PA ArchiveDemonstration during the meeting of French President Pompidou and British Prime Minister Edward Heath at Chequers, 1972.
Gamma-Keystone/Getty ImagesPro-Common Market Youth Rally at Trafalgar Square, London, 1975.Paul Fievez—Daily Mail/REXBeverley Pilkington, 22 year old model from Essex, wearing Pro Europe white tee shirt with the slogan, Europe or bust! May 19, 1975. Kent Gavin—Mirrorpix/NewscomA woman expresses the common fear that Britain will lose her greatness once she joins EEC, 1973.Vince Blye—Camera Press/ReduxMargaret Thatcher, sporting a sweater bearing the flags of European nations, in Parliament Square during her 'Yes to Europe' campaign, 1975.PA ArchiveEnglish Conservative politician, (John) Enoch Powell with his wife as he signs copies of his book 'Common Market - The Case Against' during the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton, Oct. 13, 1971Central Press/Getty ImagesMr Edward Heath goes aboard the Europe boat on Birmingham's canal, as part of Britain in Europe campaign,1975.Brian Bould—Daily Mail/REXSocial Services secretary, Mrs Barbara Castle, left, her 7-year-old great-niece Rachel Hilton and Mrs Joan Marten, wife of Neil Martin, Chairman of the anti-Common Marketeers (unseen) display goods they brought in London and Brussels with their retrospective prices for comparison during a press conference at the Waldorf Hotel in London , May 29, 1975Peter Kemp—APCounting of the ballot following the referendum, June 6, 1975.SUS2/Camera Press/ReduxVotes in the Common Market Referendum being counted at Earl's Court Exhibition Center, London, June 6,1975.Fox Photos/Getty ImagesBallot boxes are seen in the background as the count for the European Referendum gets underway, June 6, 1975.PA ArchiveMrs Anna Williams aged 102, personally delivers her Yes Vote to Swansea's referendum returning officer, Referendum Day, June 5, 1975. Western Mail Archive/Mirrorpix/NewscomMrs. Barbara Fellows, of South Kensington, shows her disapproval of joining the Common Market, Oct. 10, 1971.Keystone Pictures/ Zuma/NewscomA picture of the schedule to the Referendum Act, which lays down the form of words to be used on the ballot paper. 1975.PA ArchiveMrs Gertrude Shilling wearing a Common Market themed hat at the Royal Ascot racecourse, 1973.Chris Barham—ANL/REX
