Britain and European Integration Since 1945

This book provides both a comprehensive introduction and a perceptive examination of Britain’s relations with the European Community and the European Union since 1945, combining an historical account with political analysis to illustrate the changing and multifaceted nature of British and European politics. This book provides both a comprehensive introduction and a perceptive examination of Britain’s relations with the European Community and the European Union since 1945, combining an historical account with political analysis to illustrate the changing and multifaceted nature of British and European politics. Few issues in British politics since 1945 have generated such heated controversy as Britain’s approach to the process of European integration associated with the European Union. The long-running debate on the subject has not only played a major part in the downfall of prime ministers and other leading political figures but has also exposed major fault-lines within governments and caused deep and rancorous divisions within and between the major political parties. This highly contested issue has given rise to bitter campaigning in the press and between pressure groups, and it has bemused, confused and divided the public at large. Key questions addressed include: Why has Europe had such an explosive impact on British politics? What impelled British policymakers to join the European Community and to undertake one of the radical, if not the most radical, changes in modern British history? What have been the perceived advantages and disadvantages of British membership of the European Union? Why has British membership of the European Union rarely attracted a national consensus? Engaging with both academic and public debates about Britain and the European Union, this volume is essential reading for all students of British history, British politics and European politics.

This book explores the history of Britain's membership of the European Community. It looks at the attitude of the various British governments to the evolution of the Community, the part that membership has played in domestic politics, and the effect of membership on life in Britain. Britain has been a member of the European Community since the start of 1973, but it is only recently, with the publicity given to the plans for the creation of the single market in 1992, and the role of the community in environmental and social policies, that the mass of the population of Britain have begun to notice the possibilities that membership holds. Mrs Thatcher's government has played down and resisted the increased integration that seems to be taking place in Europe, but it is unlikely that Britain can stand apart from this process much longer.