AHC:Have Britain be less Eurosceptic

So, with a POD of 1945, have Britain be less Eurosceptic, in the sense that they firmly see themselves as being European as opposed to being " with Europe, but not of it".
 
Glib answer but it would probably require rewriting Conservative party history as they have been the majorative pushers of Euroscepticsm (though by no means the only proponents).

Have Heath win in 1974 and keep the moneterists as a minor Tory faction might help.
 
Have the Soviet Union not collapse, so (a) there is a common enemy to unify them, and (b) all the parts of Europe OTL die-hard Brexiters oppose free movement from, are still behind the Iron Curtain not in the EU.
 
I was thinking that it would have to take Britain being less nationalistic as it apparently gained a boost after the Falklands war, so that being averted or being more of a disaster for Britain, forcing the US/NATO to help could make it less Eurosceptic as it sees itself as only being able to remain a great power with the Eu.
 
I reckon you'd have to move the POD to about 1445. We've been Eurosceptic for considerably longer than 70 years.
 

shiftygiant

Gone Fishin'
The Tories lurch to further to the right during the 60's and Geoffrey Rippon becomes either Leader or helps cultivate the next generation of leaders.

Or have Major call and win a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty.
 
The Tories lurch to further to the right during the 60's and Geoffrey Rippon becomes either Leader or helps cultivate the next generation of leaders.
Maybe whatever it is that causes Scotland and Ireland to be pro Eu, could happen to England?
 
You would need to prevent euroscepticism from surfacing in the major parties on a larger scale than other EU member states. One possibility would be for Britain to lose the Falklands War. Not only that would deal a blow to Britain's view of itself as a major power, thereby increasing a willingness to see Europe as the future, but it would also turn the wind in favour of centrists, who tended to be much more pro europe. Thatcher would go, and may well be replaced with a One Nation Tory like Heseltine. It would also make the Tories even more unpopular, leading to a boost for the SDP-Liberal Alliance, who were unequivocally pro Europe.

They could defeat Labour, and possibly even the Tories, in the popular vote at the next election, and set themselves on the path to becoming one of the main two parties. Within a few decades, you could see a Tory party that remains firmly one nation having had a disastrous experiment with Thatcherism, along with the Europhile Alliance parties, and a Labour Party which is firmly on the left but reduced to third party status, taking a 'remain and reform' approach to it.

Of course, if your going to have a PoD after 1900, Britain (or at least England) is always likely to be at least a bit more eurosceptic than the rest of the continent, but if you limit the appetite for a referendum within the main parties, then it becomes a lot less likely any major steps toward leaving would be made.
Maybe whatever it is that causes Scotland and Ireland to be pro Eu, could happen to England?
As has been identified already that is most likely down to a view of the world that is more anti imperialist than an island mentality that England has. They are more willing to see themselves as small nations who might need to work with other countries to get by rather than as a major player on the world stage. To change those things would probably require a PoD going back way before 1900.
 
Make the rest of Europe more euroscepic and British public opinion will be more pro-EU if there was no prospect of the E.U. evolving into a United States of Europe.

So the U.K. still joins the Common Market in 1973. The Single European Market still comes into operation in 1992. But:
  1. The European Economic Community must not become the E.U.
  2. The Social Chapter must not happed and there must not be any chance of one happening for decades.
  3. The Single Currency must not happen and again there must not be any chance of one happening.
 
Britain votes against EEC membership in 1975. A Europe-less Britain has a much rougher 70s and early 80s, leading to a majority government elected in 1984 that holds another referendum approving EEC membership. Few opt-outs are included, and by ATL 2016 the main political debate surrounds whether or not to adopt the Euro.
 
Britain votes against EEC membership in 1975. A Europe-less Britain has a much rougher 70s and early 80s, leading to a majority government elected in 1984 that holds another referendum approving EEC membership. Few opt-outs are included, and by ATL 2016 the main political debate surrounds whether or not to adopt the Euro.
I think Britain would have done now worse economically outside the EEC between 1973 and 1992 when the single-market came into operation.

Up to that point my impression was that the U.K. was burdened with all the disadvantages of membership for no economic return. During the referendum campaign's most important argument was that leaving would damage the British economy because it was no longer be part of the Single Market.

There would be some advantages to being out between 1973 and 1992. E.g. not having to contribute to the E.E.C. budget, no C.A.P. to drive up food prices further than would otherwise have been the case and no Common Fisheries Policy to devastate the British fishing fleet.

Which is the main problem for the British, all the disadvantages can be quantified, but all the advantages were harder to measure.
 
So, with a POD of 1945, have Britain be less Eurosceptic, in the sense that they firmly see themselves as being European as opposed to being " with Europe, but not of it".
Probably too late. Best bet might be an Anglo-French union in response to the OTL 'Fall of France' in 1940. Otherwise, you have Britain, due to the necessities of war, having to look to America and the dominions, etc, etc, establishing a 'Britain apart from Europe' narrative which is completed when relations with post-war Stalinist Russia fall apart.
 
How about Europe does better? This is based on what some of the people I know (Brexitiers) who voted to leave the EU gave as reasons for voting that way

The EU does not allow certain Nations to join knowing that they are not ready - ie Greece - making sure that those nations had reached a particular level before allowing them to join

The organisation focuses more on being a common market (what my parent's generation 'thought' that they had voted for) and not as what many saw, becoming a Federal Europe with laws dictated from 'Brussels' - and what many saw as unnecessary stifling Red tape making their jobs more difficult.

There are meaningful controls over the movement of people from new member states preventing the influx of Eastern Europeans or options for individual member nations to have greater control of their borders - the immigration issue seemed to be one of the main causes for people to vote leave.

Also has to be said The Daily Moral Panic (The Daily Mail and Daily Express) - go out of print some time in the 80s and no longer pollute the British peoples with their hate filled gash of a viewspaper and in addition to this, much greater education and information about the EU and Britain's place in it.
 
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