Lord Heseltine

‘Nigel Farage, Let’s Not Mince Our Language, Is Mr Trump’s Vicar in England’

Fifty years on from the UK’s 1975 referendum on its continued membership of the then European Communities, the former Conservative Deputy Prime Minister speaks to Peter Jukes and Hardeep Matharu about the future of our involvement in Europe, the rise of populism on both sides of the Atlantic, and how Brexit has reshaped his party – and the country

PJ: Our theme for this edition is the threat to Europe from autocrats – Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, Xi Jinping. The question is: can Europe survive an age of chaos? Let’s go back 50 years to 1975 – that first referendum when the UK voted to remain a member of the then European Communities. What changed to make the country vote to leave what became the European Union in 2016?

I remember both votes very clearly.

The 1975 referendum arose because the Labour Party under Harold Wilson was split over the decision to join the European Communities’ Common Market, which the Conservatives had taken Britain into in 1973. To avoid a split in the party, Wilson proposed a referendum. The Labour Party largely supported staying in the EC, and the public endorsed the Conservatives’ original decision.

What happened next requires an understanding of the potency of economic difficulty, coupled with rising immigration, which created the background for the second referendum in 2016.

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