Britain, Europe & the World, 1970-1979 (AQA A Level History: Component 2: Depth study): Revision Note

Britain's entry into Europe, 1973

Why entry became possible

• Britain had applied to join the EEC twice during the 1960s

  • French President Charles de Gaulle vetoed both applications

• When negotiations reopened in 1970, entry was widely expected

  • Britain's application was likely to be accepted

  • Negotiations focused mainly on the terms of membership

• Prime Minister Edward Heath strongly supported European cooperation

  • His first parliamentary speech had concerned the Schuman Plan, which led towards the creation of the EEC

  • He had visited Germany during the 1930s and had been disturbed by the Nazi regime

    • He believed European cooperation could help prevent another major European war

  • For Heath, membership had a political and moral purpose as well as an economic one

• France no longer blocked British entry

  • De Gaulle had viewed Britain's close relationship with the United States with suspicion

  • His successor, Georges Pompidou, believed that the EEC needed Britain as much as Britain needed Europe

• Economic pressures also pushed Britain towards Europe

  • Trade with the EEC was growing while trade with the Commonwealth declined

  • Heath believed that membership would make British industry more competitive

• Much of the groundwork had already been completed

  • Heath had led Britain's negotiating team after the 1961 application

  • Ireland and Denmark negotiated entry at the same time

Divisions over entry in Parliament

• Securing approval in the House of Commons proved more difficult

• Some Conservatives opposed entry

  • Some wanted to protect Britain's links with the Commonwealth

  • Others believed membership would weaken British sovereignty

  • Enoch Powell strongly opposed the European Communities Bill

    • He voted against it at every stage

    • He refused to stand as a Conservative candidate in February 1974 and encouraged his supporters to vote Labour

• Labour was also deeply divided

  • Roy Jenkins led a group of committed pro-European Labour MPs

  • Much of the Labour left opposed entry

  • Wilson was not strongly committed to either side and focused on maintaining party unity

• Labour officially opposed Heath's terms rather than membership itself

  • Some Labour MPs supported the principle of joining but believed the negotiated terms were poor

  • Wilson promised:

    • renegotiation

    • a national referendum

  • Tony Benn played an important role in developing the referendum proposal

• The Commons vote on 28 October 1971 was won with Labour votes

  • Sixty-nine Labour MPs voted with the Conservative government

  • A further 20 Labour MPs abstained

• Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined the EEC on 1 January 1973

  • The original Six became the Nine

The 1975 European referendum

Why Wilson called a referendum

• Labour returned to power in 1974

  • It promised to renegotiate the terms of EEC membership

  • It also promised to put the result to the public

• Wilson's main aim was to hold the Labour Party together

  • The party was deeply divided over Europe renegotiation

  • He allowed ministers to campaign against government policy

    • This became known as the 'agreement to differ'

• Wilson and Callaghan kept a low profile, but after the renegotiation the government recommended a 'Yes' vote

  • Ministers who disagreed could remain in the same cabinet

  • Normal collective responsibility was temporarily suspended

The 'Yes' campaign

• Support for remaining in the EEC was much stronger by 1975 than it had been in 1971

  • The economic crisis of the mid-1970s made membership appear more important

• The Yes campaign had strong backing

  • Most newspapers supported continued membership

  • Business leaders also supported it

  • A survey of 419 company chairmen found that only four wanted Britain to leave

• Senior politicians from several parties joined the campaign

  • Roy Jenkins led the Labour supporters

  • Edward Heath represented the Conservatives

  • Jeremy Thorpe represented the Liberals

Approach: In this speech, Thatcher launched the Conservative campaign to remain in the EEC and appeared alongside Edward Heath

The source is useful because it shows that support for Europe remained official Conservative policy. It also shows Thatcher presenting EEC membership as part of Britain’s wider place in Europe. However, it was a campaign speech, so it was designed to win support for the Yes side

The 'No' campaign

• The 'No' campaign brought together two different arguments

• Labour opponents focused on workers and economic policy

  • Barbara Castle and Michael Foot argued that EEC membership would harm British workers

• Other opponents focused on sovereignty

  • Tony Benn, Enoch Powell and Ian Paisley argued that Britain would lose control over its own laws and decisions

• The campaign was divided between left and right

  • It did not present one clear case in the same way as the 'Yes' campaign

Approach: The leaflet was delivered to homes across Britain during the 1975 referendum campaign. It argued that EEC membership threatened British sovereignty and would lead to greater European control over laws, prices and employment

The source is useful for showing the main arguments used by the No campaign. It was written to persuade voters, so its language was intended to create concern about the loss of national control

The result

• Voters were asked the following question:

  • Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?

• The referendum was held on 5 June 1975

• Membership was confirmed

  • 17,378,581 voted yes

    • This was 67.2%

  • 8,470,073 voted no

    • This was 32.8%

  • Turnout was 64.5%

• The result was a victory of more than two to one

  • It appeared to settle public opinion in favour of membership

  • It also allowed Wilson to avoid a major Labour split

• However, the referendum also showed continuing uncertainty

  • The issue had been put to a national vote only two years after Britain joined

Relations with Europe

An 'uneasy' member

• The 1975 referendum reduced the argument over membership, but it did not end it

• Labour remained divided over Europe

  • Roy Jenkins, one of Labour's leading pro-Europeans, left Parliament to become President of the European Commission in 1977

  • Much of the Labour Party became more critical of European integration during the late 1970s

    • Some Conservatives also continued to oppose closer European integration

• Britain's contribution to the EEC budget caused repeated complaints

  • Britain paid more into the Community budget than it received

  • In December 1978, Margaret Thatcher criticised Callaghan for failing to secure a reduction

    • She also reminded him that he had renegotiated the original terms in 1975

The Common Agricultural Policy

• The Common Agricultural Policy attracted strong criticism in Britain

  • Farmers received guaranteed prices for their produce

  • This encouraged production even when food was not needed

    • This meant that surpluses developed

• British critics argued that the system favoured less efficient producers

  • Many of these farmers were in France

  • British farmers who did not produce surpluses gained less from the system

• In 1978, Callaghan warned the House of Commons that the policy could collapse under its own financial weight unless it was reformed

Fishing rights

• Fishing rights remained unresolved at the end of the decade

  • British fishermen complained about the European fleet reducing fish stocks in British waters

• Negotiations over a common fisheries policy were still continuing in December 1978

Staying outside the European Monetary System

• The EEC agreed in December 1978 to create the European Monetary System

  • It was due to begin on 1 January 1979

  • Its exchange rate mechanism aimed to keep member currencies stable against one another

• Callaghan decided that Britain would not join the exchange rate mechanism

  • The government argued that European economies had not become as similar as expected

  • Ministers feared that a fixed exchange rate could lead to:

    • deflation

    • higher unemployment

• Britain still joined other parts of the system

  • Sterling was included in the new European currency unit

  • Britain also joined the Community credit arrangements

• This created a pattern that continued in later years

  • Britain joined some forms of European cooperation

  • It stayed outside others

Approach: Callaghan made this statement to the House of Commons on 6 December 1978, after a meeting of the European Council in Brussels. He was explaining why Britain would not join the exchange rate mechanism

The source is useful because it shows how Callaghan defended Britain’s decision. He presents national interests taking priority as normal behaviour within the Community. However, he was also responding to criticism from the Opposition, so he had a reason to defend the decision and avoid presenting Britain as isolated

The state of the 'special relationship' with the USA

Heath's Europe-first approach

• Heath placed greater emphasis on Europe than on the Atlantic Alliance

  • He rejected attempts by US National Security Adviser (later Secretary of State) Henry Kissinger to use Britain as a link between the United States and Europe

  • He argued that the United States should negotiate with the European community as a whole

  • This created tension with Washington

    • Kissinger complained that Heath dealt with the Americans in an unsentimental way

    • He also questioned whether the special relationship still existed

• Personal relations were warmer than these disagreements suggested

  • Heath had a good relationship with President Richard Nixon

  • He supported American policy in Vietnam more openly than Wilson had during the 1960s

  • Nuclear co-operation continued, including work with the United States on upgrading Polaris

The Yom Kippur War, October 1973

• The Yom Kippur War exposed the strain in Anglo-American relations

  • Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October 1973

  • The United States began airlifting military supplies to Israel

• The Americans asked to use NATO bases in Europe during the airlift

  • Britain and most other European states refused permission

  • They feared that Middle Eastern oil supplies would be cut

    • OPEC later raised prices and restricted oil supplies

• Britain imposed an arms embargo on both sides

  • Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home said that Britain's European partners had adopted the same policy

  • Harold Wilson criticised the decision

    • He argued that it broke existing contracts

    • He also said it reversed Labour's policy from 1967

• The dispute showed that Britain would not always follow the United States

  • Heath placed British and European interests ahead of American requests

Approach: Douglas-Home was Conservative Foreign Secretary when he addressed the House of Commons on 18 October 1973. He was defending the government’s decision to restrict arms supplies during the Yom Kippur War

The source is useful because it explains the government’s public reasons for the embargo. Douglas-Home stresses the risk of greater military damage and points out that Britain’s European partners had adopted the same policy. However, he was defending a disputed decision in Parliament, so he had a reason to present the policy as cautious and widely supported

Wilson and Callaghan restore closer links

• Wilson and Callaghan placed more importance on the Atlantic Alliance than Heath

  • Callaghan developed a close personal relationship with Henry Kissinger

  • He also worked closely with President Jimmy Carter

• Nuclear cooperation continued

  • Callaghan began discussions with Carter in 1979 about replacing Britain's Polaris missiles with the American Trident system

  • The final decision was taken after Callaghan left office

• Britain still acted independently when its interests differed from those of the United States

  • Withdrawal from East of Suez continued despite American concerns

    • The policy had begun in the 1960s and was completed during the 1970s

Attitudes to the USSR and China

A shared Cold War aim

• Britain and the United States continued to work together despite disagreements elsewhere

  • Both wanted to limit the spread of communism

• The USSR and China were the world's strongest communist states

  • British relations with both had often been tense during the Cold War

• Relations with China improved during the 1970s, but relations with the USSR improved only slowly

  • In both cases, Britain largely followed changes first made by the United States

Relations with the USSR during détente

• The 1970s brought détente

• After the Cuban Missile Crisis, American and Soviet leaders increased direct contact

  • Regular meetings followed

  • Agreements were reached to limit the growth of nuclear weapons, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

• Britain supported détente but remained suspicious of Soviet intentions

  • Western governments still feared Soviet influence in Eastern Europe

  • Britain also remained concerned about the treatment of political opponents inside the USSR

• In 1971, Heath's government expelled 105 Soviet officials accused of spying (Operation Foot)

  • Relations with the USSR therefore did not improve under Heath

• Britain signed the Helsinki Final Act in 1975

• The murder of Georgi Markov increased these suspicions

  • Markov was a Bulgarian writer who had defected to the West in 1969

  • He worked as a broadcaster for the BBC and Radio Free Europe, criticising Bulgaria's communist government

  • He was assassinated in London in 1978

    • A poisoned pellet was reportedly fired from an umbrella

    • The KGB was suspected, although this was never proved

Approach: Colin Jackson was a Labour backbench MP speaking in the House of Commons on 9 February 1976. He argued that Britain should avoid treating either the United States or the Soviet Union as a permanent friend or enemy

The source is useful for showing how some British politicians viewed Britain’s place between the superpowers. Jackson presents Britain as an independent trading nation that should judge each issue separately. However, he was not a minister, so the speech shows an opinion about how Britain should behave rather than the government’s actual policy

China opens to the West

• Relations with China had been tense before the 1970s

  • China had supported communist forces during the wars in Korea and Vietnam

  • Britain and China also disagreed over Hong Kong

• Relations began to improve after China moved closer to the United States

  • Tension between China and the Soviet Union encouraged Mao Zedong to seek a better relationship with Washington

• President Richard Nixon announced a thaw in relations between China and the United States in July 1971

  • He visited China in February 1972

    • He met Mao during the visit

• Britain followed the American lead

  • Britain and China agreed to exchange ambassadors in March 1972

• Edward Heath later developed a close personal link with China

  • He first visited China in May 1974, two months after leaving office

    • He met Mao during the visit

  • He was later awarded the title People's Friendship Envoy

    • This was the highest honour China gave to a foreign visitor

• Relations continued to improve

  • Premier Hua Guofeng visited Britain in October 1979

    • He was the first Chinese leader to visit Britain since the Communist Revolution in 1949

How far did Britain's global position change in the 1970s?

• This question weighs the loss of Britain's older world role against the new position it took inside Europe

  • Some key evidence for each side is outlined below

Ways Britain's global position changed

• Britain joined the EEC in 1973

  • Trade, law, and diplomacy became more closely tied to Europe

  • The 1975 referendum confirmed membership through a national vote

• Heath changed Britain's approach to the United States

  • He rejected the idea that Britain should act as an American go-between

  • He wanted the United States to deal with the European Community as a whole

• Britain acted separately from the United States during the Yom Kippur War in 1973

  • It refused American use of NATO bases for the airlift to Israel

  • It followed the same line as most of its European partners

• Withdrawal from East of Suez was completed

  • Britain closed its main bases in Singapore, Malaysia and the Persian Gulf, keeping garrisons only in Hong Kong and Brunei

• Britain followed the American lead in its relations with the communist powers

  • This applied to both détente with the USSR and the opening to China

  • Britain no longer set the direction of Western policy

Ways Britain's position stayed the same

• The Atlantic Alliance survived the disputes of 1973

  • Wilson and Callaghan rebuilt closer relations with the United States

• Nuclear cooperation continued

  • Callaghan opened talks with President Carter about replacing Polaris with the American Trident system

    • Britain's nuclear deterrent, therefore, remained dependent on the United States

• Britain remained a member of NATO

  • Its main European security commitments did not change

• EEC membership did not produce full agreement with Europe

  • Disputes continued over the budget contribution

  • The Common Agricultural Policy, food prices and fishing rights also caused tension

• Callaghan kept Britain outside the exchange rate mechanism in 1978

  • The government chose national control over closer monetary integration

• Britain retained other parts of its international position

  • It kept its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council

  • It also maintained links with the Commonwealth