The European Movement UK is an independent all-party
pressure group in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
which campaigns for a close relationship with
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
, and to ensure that European values, standards, and rights are upheld in British law post-Brexit. It is part of the
European Movement International
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
The origins of the ...
which pushes for a "democratic, federal, enlarged European Union". It is the most prominent pro-Europe group in Britain.
The Honorary President was
Lord Ashdown until his death in December 2018. Former
Deputy Prime Minister
A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...
Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...
was appointed as president in May 2019. In December 2022
Lord Adonis
Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, (born Andreas Adonis; 22 February 1963) is a British Labour Party politician and journalist who served in HM Government for five years in the Blair ministry and the Brown ministry. He served as Secretary of State ...
stood down as chairman having been in the position since March 2021. Prior to him the chairman was
Stephen Dorrell
Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.
Dorrell most recent ...
.
History
The creation of the United Europe Movement and the Congress of Europe
The origins of the
European Movement
The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.
History
The origins of th ...
lie in the aftermath of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. Following a speech by Sir
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
in Zurich in 1946, his son-in-law,
Duncan Sandys
Edwin Duncan Sandys, Baron Duncan-Sandys (; 24 January 1908 – 26 November 1987), was a British politician and minister in successive Conservative governments in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a son-in-law of Winston Churchill and played a key r ...
, organised the launch of the United Europe Movement in 1947. A 'provisional committee to further the cause of a United Europe' met on 16 January 1947 to bring together a wide coalition of supporters of European Unity from the federalists in Federal Union, a campaigning organisation set up in 1939, to supporters of intergovernmental European cooperation. This United Europe Committee was formally launched on 14 May 1947 as the 'United Europe Movement' (UEM).
Under the leadership of Sandys and
Joseph Retinger
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
, organiser of the
European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC), a committee was established to bring together several organisations working towards European Unity, including the UEM, ELEC, the
Nouvelles Equipes Internationales, the
European Parliamentary Union, and the
European Union of Federalists. In Paris on 20 July 1947 ELEC, the UEM, the EPU and the EUF agreed to establish the
Committee for the Co-ordination of the International Movements for European Unity. The EPU did not however subsequently ratify its participation in the Committee but the Nouvelles Equipes Internationales agreed to join. In December 1947, the Committee was renamed the
International Committee of the Movements for European Unity and Sandys was elected its Chairman and Retinger its Honorary Secretary.
The Committee organised the Congress of Europe in the Hague in May 1948. More than eight hundred delegates from across
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
gathered, under the chairmanship of Sir
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, to create a new international movement to promote European unity and prevent further wars between its European countries. The British section of the European Movement was founded a year later. It was also supported by
Clement Attlee, the British Prime Minister.
Churchill consistently made clear that he saw any 'united Europe' rooted in 'a partnership between France and Germany'. "In all this urgent work" as he put it, "France and Germany must take the lead together. Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America, and I trust, Soviet Russia....must be the friends and Sponsors of the new Europe, and must champion its right to live."
Campaigning activity 1970s to date
The British European Movement, mostly working through its Campaign Group based in
Chandos House, London, worked closely with the Conservative Prime Minister
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
in the early 1970s when Heath applied to join the European Union.
During the UK's
European Communities membership referendum in 1975, the organisation campaigned strongly within the 'Yes' campaign
and worked with the Labour Prime Minister
Harold Wilson.
Other campaigns since then have included pressing for direct elections to the
European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
in the 1970s and promoting the benefits of the
single market in the run-up to 1992.
In 1997 the British European Movement promoted heavily its Europe 97 campaign (ninety-seven reasons for the UK to be in the European Union).
It campaigned for Britain to remain in the EU in the 2016 referendum and continued to oppose
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...
in collaboration with other major pro-European campaign groups such as
Open Britain and
Britain for Europe.
In February 2018
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
's
Open Society Foundations donated £500,000 to a number of groups opposing Brexit including £182,000 to European Movement UK.
In April the same year the group joined the
People's Vote
People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...
to campaign for a
second vote.
Chairs
The current chair of the UK European Movement is vacant. The previous Chair was former Labour minister
The Lord Adonis. Prior to that, chairs included Conservative minister
Stephen Dorrell
Stephen James Dorrell (born 25 March 1952) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Loughborough between 1979 and 1997 and then for Charnwood from 1997 to 2015.
Dorrell most recent ...
, Labour MEP
Richard Corbett
Richard Graham Corbett CBE (born 6 January 1955) is a former British politician who served as the final Leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party (EPLP), from 2017 to 2020. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Merseysi ...
, Conservative MP
Laura Sandys
Laura Jane Sandys (; born 5 June 1964) is a former chair of the European Movement UK, and a British Conservative Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Thanet between 2010 and 2015 when she stood down at the ...
and Labour Peer
Giles Radice
Giles Heneage Radice, Baron Radice, (4 October 1936 – 25 August 2022) was a British Labour politician and author. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1973 to 2001, representing part of County Durham, and then as a life peer in th ...
.
See also
*
British Influence
British Influence, formally the Centre for British Influence Through Europe, was an independent, cross-party, pro-single market foreign affairs think tank based in the United Kingdom, founded in 2012 to make the case for the European Union ami ...
*
Federalisation of the European Union
The United States of Europe (USE), the European State, the European Federation and Federal Europe, is the hypothetical scenario of the European integration leading to formation of a sovereign superstate (similar to the United States of America ...
*
Open Britain
References
External links
European Movement UK
{{People's Vote
European Union–related advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
1949 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organisations based in the City of Westminster
Organizations established in 1949
Pro-Europeanism in the United Kingdom