Fifty years ago, on June 5 1975, the United Kingdom held an in-out referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC), two-and-half years after joining the body that has since morphed into the European Union.
And while there were many differences to the Brexit vote held in 2016, the implications for the Irish border of the UK leaving barely factored throughout both referendum campaigns.
Just as David Cameron promised in the 2015 UK general election, Labour’s Harold Wilson had pledged in the February 1974 election campaign that he would renegotiate the terms of the UK’s membership of the EEC and then hold a referendum on whether to remain or leave if he was elected.
There had been no referendum held for the UK to become a member. Instead, a parliamentary vote paved the way to join along with Ireland and Denmark on January 1 1973.
Unlike in 2016, when the Conservative Party was eating itself alive, divisions were more prevalent within the Labour Party in 1975.
The Conservative Party and most right-wing groups were supportive of the EEC at the time. Margaret Thatcher, who became Tory leader months beforehand, in calling for a decisive “yes” vote, refuted claims that her party was split over Europe, saying that the “majority of the Conservative Party both in Parliament and the country – the vast majority – is in favour of staying in Europe”.
Margaret Thatcher in her iconic pro-Europe jumper during the 1975 referendum campaign
While the right-wing British press was vehemently opposed to the EU by the time of the 2016 Brexit referendum, it was the opposite case in 1975 with, for example, the Daily Mail editorialising the day before the referendum that it “never wavered in its conviction that Britain ought to enter the Common Market. We do not waver now in our belief that Britain ought to stay in”.
The Labour Party was split, with Tony Benn, father of the current Secretary of State Hilary, leading the anti-marketeers on the left and Roy Jenkins leading the more centrist pro-Europeans.
With the Labour parliamentary party and the membership at large generally opposed to EEC membership, and most in the Labour government in favour of staying in Europe, Harold Wilson had to steer a cautious approach during the referendum campaign to keep his party from splitting apart.
He allowed the British in Europe (BIE) group to do much of the public campaigning for a “Yes” vote, while he remained, publicly at least, almost neutral on the topic.
The main nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales, the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru, both campaigned to leave the EEC in 1975, diametrically different stances to the ones they held in 2016.
The result was a decisive win for the “Yes” campaign and for Wilson’s government, with a two-to-one majority voting in favour to remaining in the EEC in what was the UK’s first ever referendum.
With polls showing very lukewarm support for the EEC at the time of joining in 1973, it was clear that renegotiations on the terms of membership were pivotal in convincing the people of the UK. Wilson clearly played his hand in 1975 far more adroitly than Cameron did in 2016.
But unlike most of the UK, a familiar pattern played out in Northern Ireland on both occasions.
The main difference was that the different wings of Sinn Féin (Provisional and Official) were vehemently opposed to the EEC in 1975, while by 2016 the Sinn Féin party backed the remain campaign.
In calling for a “resounding No” vote in 1975, Provisional Sinn Féin spokesperson Malachy Foots said: “For centuries the Irish people have been exploited and dictated to by foreign elements, mainly England, and now once again we have foreign elements dictating to us in the form of the faceless bureaucrats in Brussels”.
The DUP has been consistent on Europe from its inception, firmly opposed to it, as demonstrated in the 1975 and 2016 referendums. As were most members of the Ulster Unionist Party in 1975, who took their lead from one of their MPs, Enoch Powell.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Enoch Powell with his wife Pamela (wearing rosette) during his election campaign as an United Ulster Unionist candidate for South Down (PA/PA)
The Vanguards, on the other hand, advocated for a “Yes” vote.
As with 2016, the SDLP and the Alliance Party were strongly pro-Europe in 1975.
In the end Northern Ireland had the smallest winning margin supporting EEC membership, by just 52 to 48 per cent.
Another factor from 1975 that echoed the 2016 referendum was that the land border the north shared with the south did not feature as a significant topic of debate.
Writing to The Irish News, letter writer “Ceannuightheoir” commented that the one “facet of the situation which I have not heard mentioned so far is this: If there is a majority vote for leaving the EEC we will have the Six-County area out of the community while the Twenty-Six County area remains in”.
In general, the 1975 and 2016 referendums were upside down in most respects.
However, the issue of the border in Ireland hardly featured as a footnote throughout both campaigns, despite its obvious importance, as was realised once the UK left the EU.
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