I have given some thought on what I can say ten years after the Brexit referendum. I am not sure I have much to add on the economic arguments. They are fairly clear. Rather I think it might be more useful to examine the fundamental beliefs that have made me a pro-European all my political life, since our government began serious negotiations in the 1960s, and reflect on whether they are still valid today.
I began taking a serious interest in politics in my teens, which was as the 1960s began. The Conservative government of the time, led by Harold Macmillan was trying to reorientate British foreign policy after the humiliation of Suez in 1956, when both Russia and America, but mainly America, forced Britain and France to abandon their Suez Canal adventure. Macmillan turned his attention to securing a deal with Europe, changing a policy of isolation which Britain had adopted when the European Economic Community, as it then was, was established in 1955 by the Treaty of Messina. Macmillan also pursued a policy of withdrawal from our Empire commitments and abandoning our military posture “East of Suez”, concentrating on Europe instead.
“Towards a Future of American Hostility”
I wasn’t necessarily a fan of Harold Macmillan. I think I can trace the crystallisation of my ideas to an essay I wrote in the early 1960s which actually won a prize, arguing Britain’s future was with Europe, and I think I have stuck to those beliefs more or less ever since. I can remember developments in the 1960s , when I was at university. What stands out particularly was a Fabian Society pamphlet about Europe at the time, which had a chapter “Towards a Future of American Hostility” and that phrase has stuck with me ever since. At the same time, in 1968 a book by Jaques Servan-Schreiber, The American Challenge which basically argued that unless Europe did something about it all the major industries in Europe, particularly the advanced ones, would be owned by American companies.
I travelled extensively in Europe when I was an undergraduate, particularly in the Eastern part which was then under Soviet hegemony. I can remember going by train into Berlin and seeing grey-uniformed guards pointing machine guns at the train. I was relieved when the train crossed the border and was waved through by two squaddies sitting in a truck, with no gun in sight. Quite a contrast. At the same time America was fighting in Vietnam, which brought about protests all over the world, and not much later wanting to station nuclear missiles in Britain. It wasn’t difficult as an idealist democratic socialist to decide which side you were on. Neither.
It was not long since Russia had invaded Hungary and later Czechoslovakia to put down democratic governments, and America was using its power to maintain corrupt, but apparently anti-communist, regimes in power all over the world. Europe held out great promise as a collection of democratic states which could show the world a better way than both America and Russia. If European states could work together, they could counter American industrial dominance and also act as a beacon of democracy for those European states still under communist authoritarian control.
Perhaps I was too idealistic. I did not foresee and nor did many others the ethnic and cultural tensions that migration would bring. Nor did I anticipate the force of the nationalist reaction to European integration, exploited by unprincipled and unscrupulous politicians in many European countries. Fear of immigration and nationalist sentiments lost us the referendum ten years ago.
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Where are we now?
So where are we now, both ten years after Brexit, but 51 years after the original vote to stay in? In terms of helping countries achieve democracy the EU has been a success in Eastern Europe. It may soon be in Armenia, and one day even in Ukraine. Balkan countries show a readiness to join. So, there is a positive. In terms of industry there have been some successes, such as Airbus, now a major rival to Boeing, but American still dominates in Hi-Tec. The “Future of American Hostility” predicted in the 1960s seems to have arrived, and Europe is being forced to become more of a military alliance rather than simply the trading organisation it originally was in the face of continued Russian hostility. The borders between the EU and Nato are becoming blurred, with the EU taking a role in military matters.
Has the EU been a success? Yes and no. It still has a long way to go, but few alternatives seem to be on offer. Farage has been noticeably quiet on the subject of Europe recently. Will the UK become a full member? We never were, so may have to secure some sort of arrangement to be more closely involved than we now are. But one thing remains clear to me. The UK’s future lies within Europe, and there is no other future open to us. My hopes of sixty years ago have not been fully realised, but things are still a work in progress, and my beliefs are just as true now as they ever were.
