The short answer to this question is by the Illegal, Unconstitutional and Undemocratic actions of the democratically elected Politicians of the UK and the Illegal and Undemocratic actions of the EEC between 1961 and 1971.
The Illegal, Unconstitutional and Undemocratic actions of the democratically elected Politicians of the UK
This was with a campaign over more than a decade of lies, deceit, manipulation, brainwashing, Government sponsored propaganda, business and media sponsored propaganda, illegal actions such as distributing a favourably edited version of a White Paper that had not received Parliamentary approval and using Civil Servants to do it, the repeated denial of the People’s Democratic Right to a Referendum or General Election based on whether or NOT to join the EEC/ ‘Common Market’ and ignoring all Public Opinion of up to 84% against joining the EEC.
All three main Political Parties of Conservative, Labour and Liberal were led in by obsessive Pro-Europe leaders and all dissenting back bench MPs were belittled and ignored. Edward Heath as Prime Minister ignored the fact that he did not have a Legal Mandate from the People to join the EEC and bribed, manipulated and coerced MPs to back him in Parliamentary Votes (notably on 28/10/71) to join the EEC by force in the manner of a corrupt Dictator.
These are just some of the actions and tactics used and in our ongoing research we are finding more and more shocking details of how our Nation and People were conned and duped and denied their Legal and Democratic Rights by their corrupt, obsessed, deceitful, manipulating, self-serving Politicians.
The Illegal and Undemocratic Actions of the EEC
The EEC (‘Common Market’) exploited their advantageous situation to the maximum whilst knowing full well that the People of the UK by an overwhelming majority did not want to join. Under those circumstances and knowing that the People of the UK desperately wanted a Referendum but were being denied one by the UK Government they should have DEMANDED that the UK Government carried out a Referendum (which is a well-established continental practice of consulting the People and did happen in 1971 on this exact issue for the People of Norway, Ireland and Denmark) as one of their many terms of entry, on the straight question of yes or no whether the People of the UK wanted to join the EEC.
We assert that in not doing this they acted in contravention of International Law and Undemocratically to the point of the suppression of the Democratic rights of People of the UK. They did not want to demand a Referendum as they were purely motivated by the money and World influence the UK would bring to the EEC and they knew that the People of the UK would overwhelmingly vote AGAINST joining. This is in direct collusion with the UK Government who denied a UK Referendum on entry for this exact same reason.
They also took further advantage as they demanded punishing entry terms such as extortive financial contributions, forcing capitulation terms for agriculture and fisheries, having to comply with copious legislation, rules and regulations, having to comply with free movement of labour, services and capital and taking away many of our rights such as free trade and the abandonment of the Commonwealth. All against the will of the People and without the People of the UK being allowed to have their say and a Democratic Vote!
The EEC let Edward Heath sign the Treaty of Rome in 1972 knowing full well he did NOT have the consent of the People of the UK to do so and by doing this let the UK join the EEC Illegally, Unconstitutionally and Undemocratically.
Devious and Illegal Practices by the Heath Government 1970-1971
We have already covered many of the issues involved in the UK ending up in the EEC in our other report ‘Why joining the EEC was Illegal, Unconstitutional and Undemocratic’ so we will mainly elaborate on devious and illegal practices between 1970-1971 by Edward Heath and his Government and supporters in Parliament and in the Country.
In the General Election of 18th June 1970 the Electorate did not have a choice of an anti-Common Market Political Party as the leaders of the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Parties were obsessed with joining the EEC and indeed the three were the three Patrons of the British Council of the European Movement, where many other MPs and Lords also held leading roles (HC Deb 17 December 1969 vol 793 cc359-60W). Indeed successive Governments had been handing out large sums of money (up to £7,500, which was a lot of money then) hand over fist to many Pro-Europe Movements since 1962-63 (HC Deb 17 December 1969 vol 793 cc358-9W). According to a report in the Guardian in October 1971 over 2,000 European Legal Statutory Instruments per year were being integrated into UK Law with only a few being debated, and this was BEFORE joining the EEC! So the UK was already in the process of entering the EEC by stealth and had been since the 1950s.
When Heath announced in the summer of 1971 that the sham negotiations were over and it was the Government’s intention to join the EEC he sanctioned a series of 11 ‘factsheets’. These were made available free of charge in Post Offices. It is thought that he did this so that the smallest number of People could see them as possible and 11 in number so that people could not see the true picture of what joining entailed unless you have all 11, and even then you are only seeing what the Government wanted you to see.
This is in direct contrast to the publication in the very same year, 1971, of ‘Your Guide to Decimal Money’ where “15 million copies of booklets were distributed to households before the postal strike” according to Mr Higgins (HC Deb 16 February 1971 vol 811 c1589).
There is no reason why all of the Government information (in one booklet as opposed to 11 factsheets) regarding joining the EEC could not have been sent to all UK homes in the same manner, other than the reason being the Government was trying to hide the facts and deceive the People.
These factsheets were clearly very limited in availability (allegedly there were 10 million produced but that does not even equate to one million of each of the 11 factsheets for the entire UK!) and it has been asserted that the contents of them constituted an Act of Treason particularly with regard to the issue of Sovereignty and people at the time who did manage to see one complained bitterly to their MPs and the Leader of the House of Commons on this point, but all complaints were ignored by the Government. Also demands in Parliament for the production of a factsheet of the arguments AGAINST joining the EEC were denied.
These factsheets were only arguably available to housewives and pensioners. However, a Voter from 1971, who WAS a housewife in her 20s then, has recently confirmed to us she saw no such publications in her weekly visits to the Post Office or indeed even knew about these ‘factsheets’ until we informed her now! There were also allegedly posters advertising them that no-one ever remembers seeing and a television advertisement promoting these factsheets that the Government confirmed in Parliament was made at a cost of £2,500 but was NEVER broadcast (HC Deb 03 August 1971 vol 822 cc295-6W).
Also five and a half million copies of a very favourably edited short version of the White Paper were printed and distributed by the Post Office in the same manner. The total cost of producing all these publications was given as £647,550, including £191,000 for the short version of the White Paper.
This whole sham was brought up in Parliament when Mr John Mendelson stated (referring to the short version of the White Paper) “… I believe it is unlawful for the Government to have engaged in the distribution of a political propaganda pamphlet through Her Majesty’s Post Office…” (HC Deb 27 July 1971 vol 822 cc510-29). This related to the fact that this White Paper had not been approved by Parliament and as such should not have been distributed at taxpayers expense by the Civil Servants in the Post Office, this debate which took place at 7.39am on 27/7/71 (clearly unwitnessed by the press or the public) makes a very interesting read with the severity of the arguments raised and the clear misconduct of the Ministers involved.
Heath and his Ministers also refused all the many demands for a Select Committee to be appointed to examine and report on potential entry and the terms involved, for example by Mr Arthur Lewis in March 1971 (HC Deb 24 March 1971 vol 814 c128W). Similarly demands for a Royal Commission again by Mr Arthur Lewis, “to inquire into all matters connected with Great Britain’s possible entry into the European Economic Community, the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the terms and conditions of entry, and to include on the Royal Commission, representatives from the Commonwealth countries of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Caribbean and one from the Channel Isles.” This fair and democratic request for consultation and safeguards for the interests of the UK and the Commonwealth was rebuffed with an undemocratic “No” by the Minister (HC Deb 29 July 1971 vol 822 cc163-4W).
By denying these safeguards for the People of the UK and the Commonwealth Heath’s Government was acting as a Dictatorship and this behaviour would not be permitted by a Government today.
The only real power the People had to express their disgust and opposition to Heath’s Government betrayal of the UK and Commonwealth in joining the EEC against the will of the People of the UK was to elect an anti-Common Market MP at by-elections in a protest vote. For example the Labour anti-Common Market candidate at Greenwich, Richard Marsh, was elected on 8/7/71 with a majority of over 70%. (HC Deb 08 July 1971 vol 820 cc1516-7). Unfortunately he and the other anti-Common Market MPs elected with this protest vote then just joined the back benches to be ignored like the will of the People by the Dictatorship Heath Government.
After announcing intended entry of the EEC conveniently not long before the summer recess of 1971 there were some Parliamentary debates at the end of July. Heath also instructed all MPs to speak to their constituents and get their views. Requests from MPs for the provision of the short version of the White Paper or any other information for their constituents even in such modest quantities as 5,000 were denied. All the ‘views’ obtained were obviously ignored by the Government as this was clearly just a ‘fobbing off of the MPs’ exercise to distract them from what was obviously ‘a done deal’.
In the Conservative Manifesto for the General Election of 18th June 1970 Heath stated:
‘Our sole commitment is to negotiate; no more, no less. As the negotiations proceed we will report regularly through Parliament to the country.’
This is the Mandate he used to take the UK into the EEC against the will of the People, one that he plainly states would only involve negotiation ‘no more, no less’. This in itself is totally illegal and a betrayal of the People.
Further in May 1970 in the run up to the General Election Heath reaffirmed this by stating “It would not be in the interests of the Community that its enlargement should take place except with the full-hearted consent of the Parliaments and peoples of the new member countries….” Also on the BBC programme ‘Election Forum’ Heath stated around the same time “…no British Government could possibly take this country into the Common Market against the wish of the British People…” Even worse that this was the fact that Heath further stated on the ‘Panorama’ television programme ‘a week or two’ before the Parliamentary Vote on 28/10/71 that it was still his view that “No British Government could possibly take…this country into the Common Market against the wish of the British people” (extracted from the speech of Harold Wilson, HC Deb 28 October 1971 vol 823 cc2076-217).
Wilson went on to state, referring to strong support Heath claimed to have to join the EEC “…The CBI no doubt, the Chambers of Commerce, the employers, the merchant banks – oh yes! But not the trade union movement not the pensioners, not the housewife, not even the Housewives’ League, if it exists today….The right hon. Gentleman holds his office not by the suffrage of the organisations. He has no mandate, for he sought none and obtained none, to take Britain into the Common Market except with the full-hearted consent of the British people. That is not at his command, and no vote of this House can of itself redeem his personal pledge to the British people.
We have warned what it must mean for the right hon. Gentleman, by whatever subterfuge, to take a divided and embittered people – divided and embittered by his policies – into Europe. Let him now seek from those people the mandate he spuriously claims by submitting this, and all his policies, to the free vote of a free British people.”
The British People never got their free vote on whether or not to join the EEC. The final Vote was only in Parliament on 28/10/71 and in reality it was everything but free for the MPs. The Vote is not secret and the Conservatives had 100 definite ‘Payroll Votes’ (i.e. Votes that would be rewarded by a Peerage, Knighthood, Ministerial role, keeping such role or even just keeping hold of a political career) and there were at least another 100 probable ‘Payroll Votes’. Many MPs could not bring themselves to vote with the Government so abstained, many others had been brainwashed with the constant barrage of propaganda themselves or did not understand the true long-term implications of joining the EEC and so voted with the Government. The Conservative Whip was also employed to arm-twist any of his MPs that dared to want to vote against the Government. There was also a request made for the rules of the House to require Members to disclose personal pecuniary interests before this vote (suggesting external financial motivations were being given to MPs by businesses and individuals), unsurprisingly this request was dismissed by the Minister (HC Deb 07 July 1971 vol 820 cc420-2W).
Heath won by only 112 Votes in Parliament on 28/10/71 (there were 356 Ayes and 244 Noes) to join the EEC and no doubt all his Conservative Government Ministers and MPs got their ‘pieces of silver’ as reward for their ‘Payroll Votes’ at the sacrifice of the People of the UK! The 87% of the people who predicted in a poll ‘we will go in anyway’ despite what the People of the UK thought, were proven right!
Hiding the Truth about the EEC/EU and Deceiving the Public and Parliament
The Remain Voters and people who support the European Union have been systematically brainwashed and lied to into thinking it is a wonderful thing to be a part of and not realising the reality of it. This is exactly the technique the Governments used in the 1960s and 1970s and to this date to get people to accept it and to agree with it and until only recently the People were not even given very much information about it other than what politicians wanted them to know!
The People of 1961-1971 were NOT given their say and worse than that were deceived, lied to, vital information was withheld and they were not told the true long term federal, political, legal, economic, trading, free movement and social implications and plans to this end of the EEC or even what adhering to the Treaty of Rome in its entirety REALLY involved, and we have much Hansard proof of this. In fact there was a Parliamentary conspiracy to hide these facts dating back to 1957 and the birth of the Treaty of Rome. Also at the end of the day many of the MPs and Ministers did not understand the long term implications of all of these issues themselves and a lot of information was withheld from them by the Ministers involved!
A succession of both Conservative and Labour Prime Ministers acted like a Dictator in a Totalitarian Government between 1961 and 1971 denying the British People their say in their Sovereignty being given away to other Countries including one, Germany, who was previously the enemy around 20 years previously. Peace Settlements and military occupation were even still going on at this time as a consequence of this War! As the political implications and loss of Sovereignty had been known from the start by all of the politicians of the day this represents a total betrayal of all the millions that died in this War and the millions that fought against this type of dictatorship and oppression that was clearly demonstrated by the British Governments back in the 1960s and 1970s.
The question of Sovereignty was analysed in an internal document of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO 30/1048) before the European Communities Act 1972 was passed but this was not available to the Public until January 2002 under the 30 Year Rule. Hidden away in this document under ‘areas of policy’ was stated ‘Parliamentary freedom to legislate will be affected by entry into the European Communities’ for customs duties, agriculture, free movement of labour, services and capital, transport and social security for migrant workers. The document concluded (paragraph 26) that this was acceptable and ‘power’ and ‘influence’ should be put before ‘formal sovereignty’.
Of course the EEC has since become the EU with even more of a stranglehold over the UK all without the People of the UK being able to have say on the matter. All as a result of the lies and deceit and manipulation of the People from 1961 to this day.
All of the information regarding the REAL implications of joining the EEC/ EU should have been made available from 1961 onwards to the whole UK not kept secret from the People and even using the 30 Year Rule to keep these secrets. This is nothing but a conspiracy and a total abuse of Democracy.
The Referendum Issue
Referendums (along with General Elections on the Issue) were demanded on a constant basis from 1961 onwards to allow the People to be consulted on whether or not they wished the UK to join the EEC. They were always dismissed with a firm “no” or claims that it was not ‘normal practice’ etc.
There was even an attempt to force a ‘Common Market Referendum’ under the Ten Minute Rule in 1969 (HC Deb 10 December 1969 vol 793 cc442-50) under the Wilson Administration based on the fact that Referendums had already been granted to the people of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands amongst many other arguments in favour. This motion was of course denied and makes extremely interesting further reading.
A further desperate attempt under the Heath Administration to force a Referendum on the ‘Common Market’ based on the ‘abhorrence’ of the Government signing the Treaty of Rome even with ‘the approval of Parliament’ was attempted by Mr T.L. Iremonger (Ilford, North) under Motion 217 in January 1971 (HC Deb 20 January 1971 vol 809 cc1079-220). This Motion was abruptly refused by the Speaker.
Indeed the facility was even already in place in 1971 for a National Referendum on joining the EEC that could have been held at any time before actually joining. This was down to a Bill, European Communities (Referendum) [Bill 170] that was presented by Anthony Wedgwood Benn (first reading, HC Deb 14 May 1971 vol 817 c753) (second reading, HC Deb 21 May 1971 vol 817 c1759). This Bill conveniently never progressed further than a second reading before the Parliamentary Vote on 28/10/71 but could have been used to effect a Referendum at any time before the UK officially joined the EEC on 1/1/73.
Also Norway, Denmark and Ireland were all having Referendums upon whether or not to join, this issue was brought up in Parliament in July 1971 and was as usual dismissed and suppressed by Heath (HC Deb 06 July 1971 vol 820 cc1123-4).
The People finally got their say at the 2016 Referendum (the sham Referendum of 1975 does not count!) and despite the lying and deceit that has carried on to this day the majority managed to see through it so you can imagine if the true facts were known at the time and they had actually been given one, what the result of a 1961 Referendum would have been!
There is no doubt at all that the People of the UK were Illegally, Unconstitutionally and Undemocratically denied their legal and democratic right by successive Governments between 1961 and 1972 to have a Referendum on whether or not to join the EEC. Also in 1961 on whether or not to commence negotiations in the first place. As a result of the Government’s refusal to permit a Referendum on whether or not to join, the EEC should, in accordance with International Law and the principles of Democracy, have DEMANDED one as a term of entry.
The Retrospective Sham Referendum of 5th June 1975
The retrospective Referendum of 1975 (on whether to stay in or to leave the EEC) was carried out by a very unwilling Harold Wilson, who was an ardent Pro-European, to try to satisfy the October 1974 Election Mandate he had been forced to give in order to stay in power and in an attempt to silence his Parliamentary critics. He did not care about the opinion of the People as he had previously turned down Referendums on many occasions as Prime Minister before the UK joined the EEC defending these denials on the flimsy reason that it would be ‘contrary to our traditions in this country’ and on one of these occasions he even stated that Ministers should resign if they took ‘a contrary view’! (HC Deb 25 November 1969 vol 792 c199).
The whole 1975 Referendum was biased and reluctant from start to finish and the People were further indoctrinated and brainwashed and even bribed (with promises of cheap cigarettes and alcohol according to witnesses at the time and the Government propaganda promising great things regarding food, money and jobs) and of course there was ‘project fear’. The Yes campaign was extensively bankrolled by businesses and others and all newspapers supported a yes vote apart from the left wing ‘Morning Star’. Every household received a booklet on ‘Yes’ arguments and a booklet on ‘No’ arguments and a further booklet from the Government entitled ‘Britain’s New Deal in Europe’ stating on the front cover ‘Her Majesty’s Government have decided to recommend to the British people to vote for staying in the Community’ Harold Wilson, Prime Minister. This went on to be an even more biased piece of propaganda than the ‘Yes’ booklet with many promises of rewards with a ‘yes’ vote or doom with a ‘no’ vote and resulted in every household having two ‘Yes’ booklets against one ‘No’ booklet.
There are also many claims that the entire Referendum was rigged (with the total vote numbers being altered in favour of staying) as it was the first National Referendum in this country and there were not the legal checks and balances that there are today. This is further reaffirmed by the fact that the stakes were too high and Wilson’s Minority Government could not afford to lose, so it is claimed by many that he ensured he did not.
This whole argument of the malpractice of the 1975 Referendum is reinforced by the fact that legislation such as the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 was not in force at this time. This legislation introduced a procedure to oversee the whole Referendum process and vote counting and to test and research proposed referendum questions. The exact question asked in the Referendum of 5th June 1975 was as follows:
“Do you think the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?”
This question is so biased it is outrageous, it even conveniently omits the word ‘Economic’ from the name of the European Economic Community to try to fool the people as to the real meaning of the EEC and the consequential importance of the decision and adds the comforting words of ‘the Common Market’ to further deceive the People.
From our research we have concluded that this Referendum was subjected to exactly the same type of oppression, deceit and manipulation as everything else concerned with the majority of the politicians of the UK and joining the EEC and the ‘yes’ result should be disregarded as being a false result.
Our Research
We have been able to extensively research Hansard as never before possible, due to it now being freely available on the internet and what would have taken years, if it was possible at all, has taken weeks and is still ongoing. It has also been possible to assemble it in such a way as never before and compare it with other sources. We were shocked and saddened by our findings of how the People of the UK were treated with such contempt by the majority of their elected politicians acting in self-interest instead of representing the People, to say nothing of the Illegal, Unconstitutional and Undemocratic practices used. Many of the debates were not even witnessed by any of the press or public at the time as they were late at night or very early in the morning and of course they would not have seen the numerous written questions unless they waded through numerous volumes of Hansard.
We have uploaded some of this information from Hansard and other sources on our website for your information and will continue to expand on this but it is just the mere tip of the iceberg, such is the sheer volume involved. Nothing has been changed or altered just merely highlighted for ease of reading. Every document has the full reference so that anyone who cannot believe what they are reading can check it for themselves on the internet!
The Current Situation
The People’s Brexit is a rapidly growing group of people who are determined to right the wrong and injustice that has been done and we need you and others to join this new campaign for justice for the British people of 1961-1971 (that would have included veterans of both World Wars) and ourselves.
Back in 1940 ‘the few’ heroically fought the Battle OF Britain now in 2018 it is up to us, ‘the many’, to heroically fight the Battle FOR Britain. We have just commemorated the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War so what better tribute to the fallen and those who fought in both World Wars and the Wars and Conflicts since then to declare the UK membership of the EU illegal and take our Sovereignty back on OUR terms not the ones that are being dictated to us by the EU.
The people of 1961-1971 that should have had a Referendum or General Election on the point of whether or not to join the Common Market were lied to, hood winked and deceived by their politicians. There is no denying that Edward Heath illegally signed the UK up to the ‘Common Market’ in 1972. A biased sham Referendum three years later in 1975 does not make this wrong right.
Also, the fact is that under UK Constitutional Law one Parliament cannot bind future Parliaments.
On behalf of the British people of today and the British people of the 1961-1971 who were duped and conned by their own elected representatives and denied their say on the Sovereignty of their country, this wrong must be put right.
Some people are complaining about being denied their rights but we are only in the European Union now because the people of 1961-1971 who should have had the decision on whether or NOT to join were denied their rights! The reason for them being denied their rights was because the politicians knew they would NOT want to join! UK Democracy has failed, the whole membership is illegal and we should now be using this to our advantage to get ourselves out on our terms and be financially compensated for it instead of paying them as Justice for the People of 1961-1971, many of whom fought in World War I and II for the freedom the politicians gave away! Who knows what could have been achieved if they had instead built up the Commonwealth as the People would have wanted instead of wasting a wonderful opportunity and ending up being dictated to by the 27 other European Countries.
We are still being dictated to by the European Union and we are currently going by THEIR terms to leave. We owe to those who fought for this country to fight this and to get back our Sovereignty which was given away illegally and leave under OUR terms and to be compensated for this injustice.
The UK is not Subject to Article 50 or any other EU oppression due to being in the EU in the first place Illegally, Unconstitutionally and Undemocratically so we need to now leave on our own terms and be compensated. The EU also now owes us the co-operation to make leaving as painless as possible.
Tributes and Thanks
The People’s Brexit wanted to express our tributes and thanks to the following people who have helped the cause. Firstly and very notably all the back bench MPs and Lords of all Political Parties, written off as ‘extremists’ and ‘cranks’ when all they were doing was very vocally defending the Democratic Rights of the People of the UK which were being denied and oppressed in the determination to join the EEC at any cost. Reading their words desperately trying to prevent this injustice occurring they feel like old friends to us.
Secondly, all the ‘Anti-Marketeers’ at the time and the people who have been Anti-EEC/ EU and have been very vocal about it since. Including Vernon Colman for his useful essays on the subject, Nigel Farage and UKIP who forced the Government into having the 2016 Referendum which proved conclusively that despite over 50 years of institutional brainwashing the People wanted to leave the EU!
Thirdly, all the People who were brave enough to stand up to the Government and vote against them and their official line to Remain and instead voted to Leave in the Referendum of 2016. This was not only a vote to Leave it was a vote for Democracy and Justice! Also, to all of the organisations that have been working hard since the Referendum towards getting the UK out of the EU, including Leave Means Leave and Get Britain Out.
Fourthly, all the Pro-Brexit Ministers and MPs of ALL Political Parties and all MPs that believe in Democracy, please continue to fight for the rights of the People of the UK against Oppression by the EU. Let us now tear up their unfair and unjust deal and leave on OUR OWN terms! Let us not be blackmailed into remaining in this corrupt, unjust European Union!
The UK Politicians of 1961-1971 and the actions of the EEC/EU from 1961 to date have caused this problem and division, now it is the duty of the UK Politicians of 2018 to put it right and to fight for the rights of the People of the UK!
This is the Battle FOR Britain!
Remember the People’s Brexit Declaration:
“The UK is in the EU Illegally, Unconstitutionally and Undemocratically!”
Last, but not least, to Theresa May’s Government who are currently doing their best to carry out their Legal Mandate to leave the EU but are failing due to the actions of the EU.
This is where the People’s Brexit can and will help!
Remember the People’s Brexit Declaration:
“The UK is in the EU Illegally, Unconstitutionally and Undemocratically!”