Malta in the UK

in 1956 the Maltese people voting 77% to 23% for integration into the UK, Malta would keep itself own Parliament (like NI House of Commons) but election MPs to sit in Westminster and the UK Parliament would control defence and foreign affairs, and would gain direct taxation powers, while the Maltese Parliament would be responsible for all other areas of public life, including education and the position of the church, of course this never came to pass and Malta became independent in 1964 and a Republic in 1974, what if however Malta had been integrated into the UK under this plan, what changes?
 
The National Party boycotted the poll because of a dispute over the Italian language and other issues, therefore it was felt the result wasn't reflective of the true state of opinion.
 
But nowhere near enough for a referendum to be carried.

Depends on the rules

Scotland got devolution in 1997 based on 74% of a 60 % turnout which was a similar level of approval

And will get independence on a simple majority of the electoral votes cast in 2014
 
If Malta were somehow to join the UK in the 1950's it would have led to some interesting dealings with Gaddafi from 1969 onwards. It would also have forced the UK to keep a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean.

With the economic problems and defence cuts of the 1960's and 70's I think Malta would have been considered a drain on resources (especially the pressure to raise Maltese living standards to British levels) and the British government may have used neglect to push the Maltese towards wanting independence.
 
On a slightly related note I seem to come across Maltese people all the time in London (well, three in a year). They seem to have a pretty steady stream of migration to English speaking countries and have done so for a while.
 
The British did the same with Singapore and the Trucial States, as well as the Dutch with Suriname. They wanted to ditch their responsibilities as soon as possible rather than do what the French did and default on loans in order to keep worthless pieces of real estate. Then again, downsizing forty people was apparently enough for Maltese representatives to declare all connections between the two void.
 
The Integration plan was not implemented because the Catholic Church and the Nationalist Party (conservative) lobbied with the British government to ignore the result of the referendum,while playing double game with the Maltese voters that if Malta became part of the UK,they must be Anglican and worship the Queen.Some of the Maltese population of the time took this bait and believed this blatant lie and boycotted the referendum.If the Integration became a reality Malta would have benefit from large financial aid and better social standards.As result of this the Labour Government led at the time by Dom Mintoff who was the proponent of the Integration plan, had to step down and it's supporters had to suffer from beatings by the British colonial authorities and were sent to prison (even former government ministers) on 28th April 1958.
 
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