The Changing Face of Britain’s European Issue
By Tom Haller
The European Union (EU) has been perhaps the definitive issue in the contemporary British political landscape. Today Euroscepticism is seen as a firmly Right-Wing issue, and European Unionism as Left-Wing. But this is a recent development.
Labour’s 1983 General Election manifesto contained the desire to leave the then European Economic Community (which became the EU): “British withdrawal from the Community is the right policy for Britain” (Labour Party, 1983) This manifesto, alongside Michael Foot’s leadership, is often described as the most Left-Wing Labour has ever been. In addition, the Green Party of England and Wales promoted Euroscepticism during its early days, winning the vote of future UKIP and Reform Leader Nigel Farage in 1989 (BBC, 2024).
Similarly, Reform UK MP Lee Anderson had the Left-Labour Eurosceptic Tony Benn as a considerable influence in his younger days(Nick Robinson, 2023) He has moved between multiple parties over 40 years of political membership yet Labour in the 1980’s and Reform UK today have the same position on Britain’s EU membership. So where did “Lexit” (The Week, 2019) go?
Part of why the left has embraced the EU comes down to its changing role. At its founding, the EEC’s aim was economic: primarily the removal of trade tariffs. One of the central mission statements of the 1957 Treaty of Rome was: “DESIRING to contribute, by means of a common commercial policy, to the progressive abolition of restrictions on international trade” (Treaty of Rome, 1957).
However, since the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, it has expanded its role to include both environmental and social issues. Here the mission statement includes terms such as “human rights” and “fundamental freedoms” (Journal of the European Communities, 1992). The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (2000) includes protections for marginalised groups as well as rights to collective bargaining for workers,(European Union, 2009) helping decrease antagonism from the British Left. But alongside this, the European Commission gained much more power and influence. This gave the EU a new image, of an unaccountable organisation that threatened national sovereignty.
The next progression is the rise of the Eurosceptic Populist Right. The British National Party (BNP) had left the EU as a manifesto pledge during its zenith in the 2000s (BNP, 2010) but it was never as central an issue as immigration, limiting its appeal. The success of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) came from building up policy from the primary base of Euroscepticism, without the extreme connotations of the BNP. As a result, UKIP never faced the same level of political ostracism. This allowed them greater electoral success and media airtime. UKIP spokespeople were on a quarter of Question Time shows from 2010-17,(Bennett, 2017) whereas the BNP only had one appearance in 2009. This gave UKIP much more power to control their public image.
By avoiding the racialised rhetoric of the BNP, UKIP presented an immigration message in more economic terms, as well as focusing on the issue of national sovereignty. UKIP linked together Euroscepticism with immigration in a way that hadn’t been done before, but in doing so made the EU debate an issue the British Left wouldn’t associate with them on.
Despite UKIP never having more than 2 MPs at a time, they decisively transformed the debate around the EU. Winning the 2016 referendum ironically led to the political decline of UKIP as a party, but the form of Right-Wing populism that sprung from it has continued to be electorally relevant, as shown in the popularity of its spiritual successor Reform UK at the 2024 General Election. (Cracknell and Barker, 2024) The once Eurosceptic Green Party of England and Wales supported rejoining the EU in their 2024 Election Manifesto. (Green Party, 2024) The EU changing its purpose led to a backlash, and this can be seen on the continent today with Viktor Orbán’s clashes with the EU over migration(Csongor, 2024). What remains to be seen is if this will lead to more countries leaving the EU, and if there are political parties capable of presenting that message.
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