It was all so different the last time the question came up, in 1975. An advertisement placed in the Gazette 41 years ago by a group called ‘Lawyers for Europe’ suggested: ‘You will be inundated by questions from clients’. It listed 17 reasons ‘why you, and they, should vote and vote YES’.

Number one was that lawyers should not be apathetic in a matter of such importance and number 17 that ‘the European Community is already a great influence for peace, civilisation and stability in a troubled world’. There is praise for the Common Agricultural Policy which ‘stabilises prices, supports farmers, and guarantees supplies’. Oddly, Obiter can find no equivalent ad from the no campaign. Perhaps under the leadership of figures such as Tony Benn and Enoch Powell, it was not felt to be necessary.

 

 

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