Conservative Party leader Margaret Thatcher wears her jumper that featured the flags of EEC member states ahead of Britain’s 1975 referendum. Photo: Getty
While referendums are somewhat commonplace in Ireland, thanks to Bunreacht na hÉireann’s requirement for questions to go before the citizenry, they are much rarer occurrences next door.
Fifty years ago this month, Britain and a considerable chunk of this island were asked to answer a question: “Do you think the UK should stay in the European Community (Common Market)?” Coming less than three years after British membership of the European Economic Community, the referendum was in some ways more complex than the 2016 one that ultimately removed Britain from the EU.