The United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum was a public vote that took place on 5 June 1975, on whether 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 ...

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 The Referendum Act 1975 (c. 33), also known simply as the Referendum Act or the Referendum Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which made legal provision for the holding of a non-binding referendum on whether the United King ...

there was a total of 68 counting areas across the

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 Philip Allen, Baron Allen of Abbeydale, GCB (8 July 1912, Sheffield – 27 November 2007, Windsor, Berkshire) was a British civil servant. Education and early life He was the son of Arthur Allen and Louie Tipper and educated at King Edward VI ...

who later declared the final result, In

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

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 Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

there was just 8 counting areas which were also made up by the then county council areas. In

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

the then 12 administrative regions were used as the counting areas with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

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 Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

in northern

was the largest geographically with 127,925 eligible voters. This made for a highly centralised national count with local authorities (district councils) in

and

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

The national result for the

was declared just before 2300 BST on Friday 6 June 1975 by the Chief Counting Officer

Earls Court Exhibition Centre Earls Court Exhibition Centre was a major international exhibition and events venue just west of central London. At its peak it is said to have generated a £2 billion turnover for the economy. It replaced exhibition and entertainment grounds, ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. 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 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 ...

Results by United Kingdom constituent countries

England

England was broken down into 47 counting areas.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was a single counting area.

Scotland

Scotland was broken down into 12 counting areas.

Wales

Wales was broken down into 8 counting areas.

References

{{United Kingdom elections European Communities membership Referendums related to the European Union Withdrawal from the European Union

Referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

1975 referendums 1975 in international relations 1975 in the European Economic Community Referendum, 1975 Election results in the United Kingdom