When, in 1990, then-European Commission president Jacques Delors proposed a radical three-point plan to transfer national powers to Europe, Margaret Thatcher gave a categorical response from the dispatch box: “No. No. No.”
The Sun dutifully rallied behind the prime minister the next day. “Up yours, Delors!” its splash screamed, as it advised readers of Britain’s most popular newspaper to tell the “French fool where to stick his ECU”.
For British euro-sceptics today and those that favour a withdrawal from the European Union in next month’s referendum, Mrs Thatcher’s Commons speech is a rallying cry behind which they argue that handing over powers and sovereignty to Brussels has gone too far and that it is time for Britain to go its own way.
Within a month of her speech, however, the Conservative party committed regicide. Mrs Thatcher was sent packing by party grandees who believed that her growing euro scepticism was risking the Tories’ election prospects, and ultimately the UK’s standing in the world.
“The answer’s still non, Jacques.” Thatcher and Delors reach an entente cordiale
A quarter of a century later, the Conservatives are still hopelessly divided by the question of Europe, and Labour, which largely favours EU membership, finds itself at odds with large segments of the population that it purports to represent – the result has been growth in support for parties, such as UKIP, in former Labour strongholds.
Ever since the UK entered what was then the European Economic Community in 1973 — after a wait of 10 years while the French objected to Britain’s membership – debate has raged over whether being a member of the European club was a benefit that outweighed the loss of sovereignty.
“Britain has always felt a threat from Europe,” says Denis MacShane, the Europe minister under Tony Blair and a passionate advocate for Britain remaining in the EU. “Whether historically from France, the Nazis and after that the Communists, there were endless wars that Britain and its European neighbours fought. And even today, those favouring Brexit frame the issue as an existential threat — a threat from immigration particularly.”
British hostility towards Europe has often been mirrored by Europe. Post-war French president Charles de Gaulle was strongly opposed to the UK’s attempts to enter the EEC in the 1960s, as did the then-West German chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Despite this antipathy, however, former insiders say that the UK has exerted substantial influence over Europe since 1973.
“We’ve had 40 years of the domestic Cabinet divided down the middle over Europe,” says Sir Colin Budd, a former British ambassador to The Netherlands. “But in that time, the UK has achieved a great deal at European levels. The French know that we’re important from the point of view of foreign policy and the weight we carry is important. The single market — a huge success — was created by a British commissioner and English has become the main language in Europe. The UK’s input cannot be ignored.”
We might get back formal powers if we vote to leave, but will we always have to accept the EU’s laws and regulations
Even so, ‘sovereignty’ has become a rallying cry for the pro-Brexit camp, with former London mayor Boris Johnson in particular arguing that the the UK’s ability to make its own laws and decide its own interests is incompatible with its membership of the EU.
“Some people draw attention to Norway and Switzerland as non-EU members who enjoy things like free trade agreements,” says Professor Kevin Featherstone, a historian at the London School of Economics, specialising in Britain’s membership of the EU. “But there is no particular financial benefit. Norway pays for these benefits and is still bound by EU rules and regulations, but without having any influence over the policies that affect them. There is a naivety about the argument that it is easy to govern ourselves. We might get back formal powers if we vote to leave, but will we always have to accept the EU’s laws and regulations.”
The UK has long given the impression that it is only a lukewarm member of the EU. In June, it will decide whether to turn that apathy into a decisive vote to leave. MacShane fears, however, that the decision may be made on domestic political considerations, rather than on the substance of the debate about the future of the EU. “Cameron’s not popular – there’s the steel mess, the junior doctors,” he says. “It may be down to which side can get its vote out.”
PHOTOS: CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGE; JASPER JUINEN/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES
