@girlsblouse17 and @Absolutepowercorrupts
But it doesn’t seem to me that people ever were told that the EEC was solely about trade.
I can’t claim to have been around for the 1975 referendum, or indeed when we joined the EEC, but the idea that the public were deceived about what it was seems like a myth to me.
Harold Wilson made it clear to parliament that it was about political unity as well as economics when we applied to join:
“But whatever the economic arguments, the House will realise that, as I have repeatedly made clear, the Government’s purpose derives, above all, from our recognition that Europe is now faced with the opportunity of a great move forward in political unity and that we can and indeed must — play our full part in it.”
Ted Heath said during the negotiations to join that the community is “far more than a common market”:
“The community which we are joining is far more than a common market. It is a community in the true sense of that term. It is concerned not only with the establishment of free trade, economic and monetary union and other major economic issues, important though these are — but also as the Paris Summit Meeting has demonstrated, with social issues which affect us all — environmental questions, working conditions in industry, consumer protection, aid to development areas and vocational training.”
Aside from that, all of the campaign literature for the leave side of the argument during the 75 referendum referred to sovereignty issues as one of the main arguments for leaving.
Again, I wasn’t there, so i cant say from experience, but I find it hard to believe the theory that it was kept secret until the 90s.
Happy to be corrected if there’s evidence that I’m wrong.