One problem with this video is his mistaken view that we joined what was then the Common Market by a referendum. This is a very common mistake. The 1975 referendum was held by the Labour government of Harold Wilson because in those palmy days of old Labour (ended by Tony Blair) membership of the Common Market was a very controversial issue, and I think only one prominent Labour politician at the time, the revolutionary Roy Jenkins, actually supported our accession. It was the Conservative government of Edward Heath that encted the European Communities Act, in 1972. The referendum, held two years after we had joined, merely sealed the deal with the electorate, and with the country so strike-bound at the time, and with the energy crisis, &c, I doubt that many people cared all that much. That attitude soon changed among the electorate but with the coup against Mrs Thatcher's premiership by Tory europhiles, the Conservative party's internal rancour over Europe, and the evolution of New Labour into a fanatically pro-EU party, we are where we are to-day. And what a mess!
One problem with this video is his mistaken view that we joined what was then the Common Market by a referendum. This is a very common mistake. The 1975 referendum was held by the Labour government of Harold Wilson because in those palmy days of old Labour (ended by Tony Blair) membership of the Common Market was a very controversial issue, and I think only one prominent Labour politician at the time, the revolutionary Roy Jenkins, actually supported our accession. It was the Conservative government of Edward Heath that encted the European Communities Act, in 1972. The referendum, held two years after we had joined, merely sealed the deal with the electorate, and with the country so strike-bound at the time, and with the energy crisis, &c, I doubt that many people cared all that much. That attitude soon changed among the electorate but with the coup against Mrs Thatcher's premiership by Tory europhiles, the Conservative party's internal rancour over Europe, and the evolution of New Labour into a fanatically pro-EU party, we are where we are to-day. And what a mess!
ReplyDeleteMy considered response to Pat Condell's angry Brexit video that's currently doing the rounds...
ReplyDeletehttps://llblawg.com/2017/04/04/my-open-letter-to-pat-condell-re-brexit/
Kind regards,
Richard Murtagh