Membership of the EC and its Alternatives

Whatever the verdict of History may ultimately be on the wisdom of Britain’s decision to join the Community it will certainly not be easy to justify to our grandchildren or great-grandchildren the tortuous process by which the decision was made. Whether they have by then confirmed and consolidated British membership or have faced the upheaval of undoing it, they can hardly look back on the Rake’s Progress of Britain’s European policy since the war with any satisfaction. We have neither remained aloof with dignity and produced a tailor-made commercial policy of our own as did Sweden in the early post-war years nor did we secure entry on favourable terms that avoided repeated de facto re-negotiation. The untied ends of previous rounds of bargaining with our Community partners like the Budget and Fisheries issues, persist in alienating British public opinion and keeping alive the continued agonising about whether Britain should withdraw. The purpose of this chapter is not to criticise that agonising as such but to argue that if there is to be a further public debate on the issue, incorporated in a General Election campaign, then it needs to be on more constructive and coherent lines than it has ever been in the past. If not, Britain will continue to get the worst of both worlds i.e. neither pursuing an alternative strategy nor able to commit herself wholeheartedly to membership because of constant glances at the apparently greener grass in the next field.