Results of the 1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum

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See also: United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975

1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum
5 June 1975 (1975-06-05)

The Government has announced the results of the renegotiation of the United Kingdom's terms of membership of the European Community.

Do you think the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?

Results
Choice
 Votes %
Yes 17,378,581 67.23%
No 8,470,073 32.77%
Valid votes 25,848,654 99.79%
Invalid or blank votes 54,540 0.21%
Total votes 25,903,194 100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 40,086,677 64.62%
Results by Results by local voting area
Yes:      50–60%      60–70%      70-80%
No:      50–60%      60–70%      70-80%

The United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum was a public vote that took place on 5 June 1975, on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Communities which was principally the European Economic Community (the Common Market) as it was known at the time. At the time the UK had already been a member of the EC for two and a half years since joining back on 1 January 1973 and was the first ever national referendum of its kind to be held in the country.

This article lists, by voting area, all the results of the referendum, each ordered into national sections.

Under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1975 there was a total of 68 counting areas across the United Kingdom in which counting took place locally. Once the counting areas had officially declared, their results were then relayed by the returning officers to the Chief counting officer Sir Philip Allen who later declared the final result, In England there was a total of 47 counting areas which were made up of the then county council areas of England along with Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. In Wales there was just 8 counting areas which were also made up by the then county council areas. In Scotland the then 12 administrative regions were used as the counting areas with Northern Ireland acting as a single counting area. This meant that of the counting areas the Isles of Scilly with 1,447 eligible voters had the smallest electorate and was also the smallest geographically and Greater London with 5,250,343 eligible voters had the largest electorate and Highland in northern Scotland was the largest geographically with 127,925 eligible voters.

This made for a highly centralised national count with local authorities (district councils) in England and Wales verifying votes locally after polls closed but counting of all totals were only permitted to be held and declared at county council or Scottish regional council level apart from the Isles of Scilly and was not overseen by any independent public body.

Verification of the votes took place after the polling stations closed but counting of the votes did not start until the following morning on Friday 6 June from 09:00 BST, the day after the poll took place and presented unique challenges as large venues were required as there had been no previous experience of counting on such a large and centralised scale and took almost fourteen hours to complete.

United Kingdom[edit]

The national result for the United Kingdom was declared just before 2300 BST on Friday 6 June 1975 by the Chief Counting Officer Sir Philip Allen at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. With a national turnout of 64% the target to secure the majority win for the winning side was 12,951,598 votes. The decision by the electorate was a decisive 'Yes' to continued EC membership which won by a huge majority of 8,908,508 votes (34.5%) over those who had voted 'No' to reject continued membership. The result saw decisive 'Yes' votes from all four countries of the United Kingdom and also saw 'Yes' majority votes from all but two counting areas to continued membership of the European Communities (Common Market) which would later become the European Union. [1][2]

1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum
Choice Votes %
Yes 17,378,581 67.23
No 8,470,073 32.77
Valid votes 25,848,654 99.78
Invalid or blank votes 54,540 0.22
Total votes 25,903,194 100.00
Registered voters/turnout 40,086,677 64.62
Source: House of Commons Library[2]

NOTE: Unusually for a referendum Yes was the no change (status quo) option.

National referendum results (excluding invalid votes)
Yes
17,378,581 (67.2%) 		No
8,470,073 (32.8%)
▲
50%

Results by United Kingdom constituent countries[edit]

Country Electorate Voter turnout,
of eligible 		Votes Proportion of votes Invalid votes Highest Yes vote Highest No vote
Yes No Yes No
  England 33,356,208 64.6% 14,918,009 6,182,052 68.65% 31.35% 42,161 North Yorkshire 76.3% Tyne and Wear 37.1%
  Northern Ireland 1,030,534 47.4% 259,251 237,911 52.19% 47.81% 1,589 One voting area One voting area
  Scotland 3,688,799 61.7% 1,332,186 948,039 58.42% 41.58% 6,481 Borders 72.3% Western Isles 70.5%
  Wales 2,011,136 66.7% 869,135 472,071 64.80% 35.20% 4,339 Powys 74.3% Mid Glamorgan 43.1%

England[edit]

Results by nation.

United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
England
Choice Votes %
Yes 14,918,009 68.65%
No 6,812,052 31.35%
Valid votes 21,730,061 99.81%
Invalid or blank votes 42,161 0.19%
Total votes 21,772,222 100.00%
Registered voters and turnout 33,356,208 64.60%
England referendum results (without spoiled ballots)
Yes:
14,918,009 (68.6%) 		No:
6,812,052 (31.4%)
▲

England was broken down into 47 counting areas.

County Votes Proportion of votes Turnout
Yes No Yes No
Avon 310,145 147,024 67.8% 32.2% 68.7%
Bedfordshire 154,338 67,969 69.4% 30.6% 67.9%
Berkshire 215,184 81,221 72.6% 27.4% 66.4%
Buckinghamshire 180,512 62,578 74.3% 25.7% 69.5%
Cambridgeshire 177,789 62,143 74.1% 25.9% 62.9%
Cheshire 290,714 123,839 70.1% 29.9% 65.5%
Cleveland 158,982 77,079 67.3% 32.7% 60.2%
Cornwall 137,828 63,478 68.5% 31.5% 66.8%
Cumbria 162,545 63,564 71.9% 28.1% 64.8%
Derbyshire 286,614 131,452 68.6% 31.4% 64.1%
Devon 334,244 129,179 72.1% 27.9% 68.0%
Dorset 217,432 78,239 73.5% 26.4% 68.3%
Durham 175,284 97,724 64.2% 35.8% 61.5%
Essex 463,505 222,085 67.6% 32.4% 67.7%
Gloucestershire 170,931 67,465 71.7% 28.3% 68.4%
Greater London 2,201,031 1,100,185 66.7% 33.3% 60.8%
Greater Manchester 797,316 439,191 64.5% 35.5% 64.1%
Hampshire 484,302 197,761 71.0% 29.0% 68.0%
Hereford and Worcester 203,128 75,779 72.8% 27.2% 66.4%
Hertfordshire 326,943 137,226 70.4% 29.6% 70.2%
Humberside 257,826 122,199 67.8% 32.2% 62.4%
Isle of Wight 40,837 17,375 70.2% 29.8% 67.5%
Isles of Scilly 802 275 74.5% 25.5% 75.0%
Kent 493,407 207,358 70.4% 29.6% 67.4%
Lancashire 455,170 208,821 68.6% 31.4% 66.4%
Leicestershire 291,500 106,004 73.3% 26.7% 67.2%
Lincolnshire 180,603 61,011 74.7% 25.3% 63.7%
Merseyside 465,625 252,712 64.8% 35.2% 62.7%
Norfolk 218,883 93,198 70.1% 29.9% 63.8%
Northamptonshire 162,803 71,322 69.5% 30.5% 66.7%
Northumberland 95,980 42,645 69.2% 30.8% 65.0%
Nottinghamshire 297,191 147,461 66.8% 33.2% 63.1%
Oxfordshire 179,938 64,643 73.6% 26.4% 67.7%
Shropshire 113,044 43,329 72.3% 27.7% 62.0%
Somerset 138,830 60,631 69.6% 30.4% 67.7%
Staffordshire 306,518 148,252 67.4% 32.6% 64.3%
Suffolk 187,484 72,251 72.2% 27.8% 64.9%
Surrey 386,369 120,576 76.2% 23.8% 70.1%
East Sussex 249,780 86,198 74.3% 25.7% 65.8%
West Sussex 242,890 75,928 76.2% 23.8% 68.6%
Tyne and Wear 344,069 202,511 62.9% 37.1% 62.7%
Warwickshire 156,303 67,221 69.9% 30.1% 68.0%
West Midlands 801,913 429,207 65.1% 34.9% 62.5%
Wiltshire 172,791 68,113 71.7% 28.3% 67.8%
North Yorkshire 234,040 72,805 76.3% 23.7% 64.3%
South Yorkshire 377,916 217,792 63.4% 36.6% 62.4%
West Yorkshire 616,730 326,993 65.4% 34.6% 63.6%
source: The Guardian[3]

Northern Ireland[edit]

Northern Ireland was a single counting area.

United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
Northern Ireland
Choice Votes %
Yes 259,251 52.19%
No 237,911 47.81%
Valid votes 497,162 99.68%
Invalid or blank votes 1,589 0.32%
Total votes 498,751 100.00%
Registered voters and turnout 1,030,534 47.40%
Northern Ireland referendum results (without spoiled ballots)
Yes:
259,251 (52.2%) 		No:
237,911 (47.8%)
▲

Scotland[edit]


United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
Scotland
Choice Votes %
Yes 1,332,208 58.42%
No 948,039 41.58%
Valid votes 2,280,225 99.72%
Invalid or blank votes 6,451 0.28%
Total votes 2,286,676 100.00%
Registered voters and turnout 3,688,799 61.70%
Scotland referendum results (without spoiled ballots)
Yes:
1,332,186 (58.4%) 		No:
948,039 (42.6%)
▲

Scotland was broken down into 12 counting areas.

Region Votes Proportion of votes Turnout
Yes No Yes No
Borders 34,092 13,053 72.3% 27.7% 63.2%
Central 71,986 48,568 59.7% 40.3% 64.1%
Dumfries and Galloway 42,608 19,856 68.2% 31.8% 61.5%
Fife 84,239 65,260 56.3% 43.7% 63.3%
Grampian 108,520 78,071 58.2% 41.8% 57.4%
Highland 40,802 33,979 54.6% 45.4% 58.7%
Lothian 208,133 141,456 59.5% 40.5% 63.6%
Orkney 3,911 2,419 61.8% 38.2% 48.2%
Shetland 2,815 3,631 43.7% 56.3% 47.1%
Strathclyde 625,959 459,073 57.7% 42.3% 61.7%
Tayside 105,728 74,567 58.6% 41.4% 63.8%
Western Isles 3,393 8,106 29.5% 70.5% 50.1%
source: The Guardian[3]

Wales[edit]


United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975
Wales
Choice Votes %
Yes
Ydw 		869,135 64.80%
No
Nac Ydw 		472,071 35.20%
Valid votes 1,345,545 99.68%
Invalid or blank votes 4,339 0.32%
Total votes 815,628 100.00%
Registered voters and turnout 2,011,136 66.90%
Wales referendum results (without spoiled ballots)
Yes:
869,135 (64.8%) 		No:
472,071 (35.2%)
▲

Wales was broken down into 8 counting areas.

County Votes Proportion of votes Turnout
Yes No Yes No
Clwyd 123,980 55,424 69.1% 30.9% 65.8%
Dyfed 109,184 52,264 67.6% 32.4% 67.5%
Mid Glamorgan 147,348 111,672 56.9% 43.1% 66.6%
South Glamorgan 127,932 56,224 69.5% 30.5% 66.7%
West Glamorgan 112,989 70,316 61.6% 38.4% 67.4%
Gwent 132,557 80,992 62.1% 37.9% 68.2%
Gwynedd 76,421 31,807 70.6% 29.4% 64.3%
Powys 38,724 13,372 74.3% 25.7% 67.9%
source: The Guardian[3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Butler, David; Kitzinger, Uwe. "The 1975 Referendum" (PDF). The Macmillan Press Ltd. SBN 333 19708 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b Vaughne Miller, Research Briefings – The 1974–75 UK Renegotiation of EEC Membership and Referendum, House of Commons Library, parliament.uk, 13 July, 2015, accessed 4 July 2021
  3. ^ a b c Nelsson, Richard (5 June 2015). "Archive: how the Guardian reported the 1975 EEC referendum". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
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