Referendum Act 1975
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| Long title | An Act to provide for the holding of a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Economic Community. |
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| Citation | 1975, c. 33 |
| Territorial extent | United Kingdom |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 8 May 1975 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Referendum Act 1975 (c. 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made provision for the holding of a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Economic Community.[1]
The Act gave effect to a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party at the general election of October 1974, and set out the arrangements and procedure for the United Kingdom's first ever national referendum, in which voting was to take place simultaneously in all parts of the country. In accordance with the Act, the European Communities Referendum took place on 5 June 1975, and voters approved continued EEC membership by 67% to 33% on a turnout of 65%.[2]
Contents
The referendum
The Act legislated for a referendum to be held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 5 June 1975 on the issue of continuing membership of the European Economic Community (the Common Market) which was a single majority vote to be overseen by an appointed "Chief counting officer" who would declare the final result for the United Kingdom. As there was no previous precedent for the holding of such a referendum across the United Kingdom the Act also set out its procedure and format.
Referendum question
The Act set out the following question which the British electorate would be asked:
The Government has announced the results of the renegotiation of the United Kingdom's terms of membership of the European Community.
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Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?
permitting a YES / NO answer (to be marked with a (X)).
Campigning
The Act also provided for the equal public funding of two campaigns, one for a Yes vote, the other for a No vote. While each campaign was to receive the same amount of public money, other donations were also to be permitted.[3]
Counting areas
The Act allowed for the appointment of "Counting Officers" who would oversee the counts within their local areas. The Act legislated for the referendum counts to be held at local authority level but only declared at the level of administrative regions (the counties of England and Wales and the then regional areas of Scotland) rather than at a single, local or parliamentary constituency level. This meant there would be a total of just 68 "counting areas" across the United Kingdom (47 in England, 12 in Scotland, 8 in Wales and a single area for Northern Ireland). Verification took place after the polls closed but the referendum count itself did not begin until the day following the poll on Friday 6 June from 0900 British Summer Time.
Franchise
The right to vote in the referendum was given to UK residents who were British, Irish or Commonwealth citizens under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1969. Members of the House of Lords were permitted to vote. Voting took place from 0700 to 2200 British Summer Time on Thursday 5 June. The minimum age for voters in the referendum was 18 years, a figure in line with general elections in the UK at that time.
Referendum result
The national result was declared late on Friday 6 June 1975 by the Chief Counting Officer Sir Phillip Allen in London. The result, with "yes" votes from all four countries of the UK, confirmed the commitment to continued membership of the European Economic Community (Common Market) on the renegotiated terms; and the government led by Harold Wilson took no further direct action. Until the 2016 EU Referendum this was the only referendum to be held in the United Kingdom regarding its relationship with the Common Market or European Union.
| Turnout % | Yes votes | No votes | Yes % | No % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64.50 | 17,378,581 | 8,470,073 | 67.23 | 32.77 |
Result by consitituent countries
| Constituent country | Yes votes | No votes | Yes % | No % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 14,918,009 | 6,812,012 | 67.8 | 32.2 |
| Northern Ireland | 259,251 | 237,911 | 52.1 | 47.9 |
| Scotland | 1,332,186 | 948,039 | 58.4 | 41.6 |
| Wales | 869,135 | 472,071 | 64.8 | 35.2 |
