A 20th Century Act of Union?

[jean-sans-terre]

Do you think it would be possible for the UK to pass another Act of Union in the 20th Century, like previous ones with Scotland and Ireland, to add another nation to the UK (presumably one of its colonies).
At this point I think Canada is out of the picture and New Zealand or Australia would probably be a stretch.
However I wonder if the political will was there in Britain (which admittidly it was not) if an Act of Union could've been possible with the West Indies, Mauritus, Malta or perhaps some Pacficic Islands.
Does anybody else have any candidates for nations that could've joined the UK or do you think the whole presmise is unfeasable?

 

[Politibrit]

Malta actually voted to become a part of the UK in 1956, and there was for a time broad support for integration, so it would seem the most likely candidate by far for this.

 

[Byz]

I wonder if Newfoundland could potentially join the UK. Hard to do with a post-1900 PoD, though.

 

[Aghasverov]

I wonder if Newfoundland could potentially join the UK. Hard to do with a post-1900 PoD, though.

Seems like post-1900 would've been an ideal time, after 1933 when the economy collapsed and Newfoundland went without responsible government for 15-odd years...

 

[Byz]

Seems like post-1900 would've been an ideal time, after 1933 when the economy collapsed and Newfoundland went without responsible government for 15-odd years...

Is there the political will in Britain to join with Newfoundland, though? It seems to me they'd prefer the existing arrangement.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I think, Malta aside, if there were to be additions to the United Kingdom they would be the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

 

[A Piece of History]

Malta actually voted to become a part of the UK in 1956, and there was for a time broad support for integration, so it would seem the most likely candidate by far for this.

A couple of problems with this

Malta was really only important to Britain as a naval base and in the 1950s, the need for a naval base in the Mediterranean was becoming less integral to Britain's national security. In 1958, the Ministry of Defense sacked 40 workers at the Maltese dockyards, leading to Mintoff to declare that the Maltese people were not bound to agreements with the British government.

Also, apparently, some people in the British government were worried that if Malta was allowed to join the UK, then that would set a precedent for other colonial territories to demand representation for themselves and would influence the outcome of general elections.

Also, membership in the UK was conditional on the Maltese government reining in it's spending and limiting the government to a small budget deficit, which Mintoff was not prepared to do, leading to his resignation.

 

[Aghasverov]

Is there the political will in Britain to join with Newfoundland, though? It seems to me they'd prefer the existing arrangement.

Well, the same source (Wikipedia, of course ) says that there was a referendum just after WWII and something like 80% of Newfoundlanders indicated they'd like to be annexed into the US... of course there was considerable good will at that time...
As far as the political will in the UK, doubtful... for one, Newfoundland had (and has) a rather small population base for consideration as a full "Kingdom"... for another, the distance involved would make issues of full political integration rather problematic, even in the "jet age"...