Does this mean that England will get the same home nation treatment that Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are going to be getting? So their own home nation parliament and government?
TL: UK Overseas Regions [Redux]
- Thread starter Devvy
- Start date
Devvy
Donor
Maybe poorly phrased my post; I can't see that happening. I just can't see Westminster granting a full English devolution; it would present far too much of a challenge to Westminster sovereignty. I can see greater English devolution to the regions though; something like a patchwork of English provinces which have more devolution then currently, but not quite the same as the other home nations (ie. law/crime would remain at Westminster to retain a unified legal system across England).
Kind of curious if numbers with armed forces will remain the same or a bit larger compared to OTL given it has to protect more islands and the like.
I could see something like maybe something like more of the rivers class or frigates being deployed as well as a slightly larger RFA especially if Belize intergrates.
I could see something like maybe something like more of the rivers class or frigates being deployed as well as a slightly larger RFA especially if Belize intergrates.
Right, ask for forgiveness not permission to join a trade block, but if that block just so happens to turn into a political union thats just how it is, no need to ask again (even if we said we would 😉)
Isn’t the government has back the Navy during the defense white paper that’s going to cut carriers, so the UK probably still maintain quite a powerful navy with possibly Carrier, amphibious assault, more frigates and possibly corvette to help protect the British sea lane. Definitely couldn’t wait for the Falkland to happen
You are welcome.Nice bit of morning feedback to respond to
I would have liked to see you go down the Commonwealth Free Trade route instead of Britain in the EEC just to see how things would have gone compared to OTL.
There was a lot of people in the UK opposed to EEC membership, some of whom predicted the political union, some disliked the economic ties, and some just disliked the 'capitalist club' - hopefully a 'no' campaign will win ITTL and the UK will take another path.
Those extra MP's, few in number sure, are likely to have thrown some of the tight votes over the years.
Are we likely to see Regional Govt for England instead of a 'national' English Parliament?
Would these Regions have Parliaments of their own or just Councils?
When is the Channel Tunnel due to open?
can we reserve the Brexiter stuff for political chat and not derail this time line
If the story is about Britain being made more "european" then it's a topic that has to be addressed, especially if the politicians are going down the back door approach.
I'd be like talking about US economic changes after WW1 while avoiding talking about the great depression
Here is how New Zealand currently handles matters with the Chatham Islands (current population 730), originally settled by the Moriori people who were later conquered and enslaved until 1863 by Maoris: "The Chatham Islands are within a single electorate which sends one member to Parliament. Until the 1990s, the Chatham Islands were in the Lyttelton electorate, but since then they have formed part of the Rongotai general electorate, which otherwise lies in south Wellington. Julie Anne Genter is the MP for Rongotai. The Te Tai Tonga Māori electorate (currently held by Tākuta Ferris) includes the Chatham Islands; before the seats were reformed in 1996 the archipelago was part of Western Maori." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Islands
For the purposes of integrating the South Atlantic entities, the simplest thing under today's laws would be to incorporate them as a non-metropolitan county of England (with no legal distinction of being "overseas counties" or "home nations"--they would be part of England, period) with full voting rights in UK elections:
"The local government counties today cover England except for Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. There are six metropolitan counties and 78 non-metropolitan counties. Of the non-metropolitan counties, 21 are governed in a two-tier arrangement with an upper-tier county council and a number of lower-tier district councils, 56 are governed by a unitary authority performing both county and district functions, and one (Berkshire) is governed by six unitary authorities whilst remaining legally one county." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_England
So, have a two-tier arrangement today: an upper-tier county council and three district councils (Falklands, Saint Helena/Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha). Special security restrictions on visitors, settlers or guest workers on Ascension should be lifted, except for the normal restrictions as elsewhere in the UK (AND in the Falklands), on entering military bases or other sensitive properties that might be subject to sabotage.
Re incorporation of the South Atlantic islands today, the Falklanders, with their high standard of living and their worries about Argentina, might insist on being a separate county or on being the location of the county council. I have no opinion on this.
For incorporation in the 1950s under the laws of that time, do the closest practical thing to the idea above, or describe a secondary POD that leads to changes in the laws on county organization and status, if necessary to the plausibility of the thread.
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These are Crown dependencies and not part of the UK. I would not have thought they would want integration as it might screw up their off shore financial businesses and their living standards dont really need a particular upgrade. well i suppose thee might be a few unhappy people in rather feudal Sark, but otherwise there would not be a great desire for change.
Devvy
Donor
This is something I've been pondering. The UK has a serious cash flow issue in the 1960s and 1970s, but equally the UK wasted money hand over fist repeatedly in the same time period. I don't want to overdo it with "the UK makes every smart decision", but I want to sketch something out about this. Might dive off in to something on this topic as a break from a PM-by-PM chapters.
I've often tried to sketch out a closer Commonwealth timeline, but I always have two issues: 1) It needs a different WW2 at the very least, and possibly different WW1, and changing those completely transforms the modern world as we know it, and 2) a closer Commonwealth always feels like a game of whack-a-mole; as soon as you fix one issue, another three open up again, and before you know it you're working with PoDs in the 19th century which isn't really my thing.You are welcome.
I would have liked to see you go down the Commonwealth Free Trade route instead of Britain in the EEC just to see how things would have gone compared to OTL.
There was a lot of people in the UK opposed to EEC membership, some of whom predicted the political union, some disliked the economic ties, and some just disliked the 'capitalist club' - hopefully a 'no' campaign will win ITTL and the UK will take another path.
Those extra MP's, few in number sure, are likely to have thrown some of the tight votes over the years.
Are we likely to see Regional Govt for England instead of a 'national' English Parliament?
Would these Regions have Parliaments of their own or just Councils?
When is the Channel Tunnel due to open?
As for the other points; so far in this TL, in terms of European integration it's not really been anything which hasn't happened in OTL. Metrication has occurred a few years earlier under Gaitskell, but it's not a million miles off OTL metrication by any stretch. Considering the Commonwealth agreement on moving to metric system, I think you'd find both Labour & Conservatives happy to plow on with metrication for trade with either bloc - someone has finally started the process, everyone'll be happy to let it roll on. Now we have 5 overseas MPs (3 from Malta, 1 from Gibraltar, 1 from Seychelles) - it's not huge, but it might swing elections and especially if those parties have agreed to take the whip with their Westminster counterparts.
As for the regions, that's a conversation for another day; I've not finished sketching that out yet as I can't see it happening much before the 1990s.
As for Channel Tunnel; expected opening in somewhere around 1980.
Two things I'd say in response to this:
1) UK and France have become close foreign policy and military partners here - which to me doesn't seem like a massive stretch considering they are both post-colonial countries struggling to adapt to the new world where they are no longer the top dog and no longer have an empire to fund or to fund the metropole. However, despite that partnership, the UK-France close partnership won't automatically translate to other areas though; OTL the US and UK are best of foreign policy and military partners, but that hasn't translated to any kind of UK-US free trade either pre-EEC or post-Brexit due to all kinds of differences. TTL UK-France are no different; best of foreign policy/military partners doesn't automatically mean that the UK will want to waltz straight in to the EEC. Although spoiler alert, it will end up in the EEC.
2) The UK is still going to be nowhere as European as the other European countries. It's not going to be jumping head over heels and European integration. Spoiler alert; there won't be Euro currency over the Tesco counters in this TL. But hey; maybe Tesco roll out in France a little wider then the expat shops they used to have, and maybe Carrefour or Auchan establish themselves a little in the UK. Maybe the Europe Community is a little smaller with some consequences - Douglas-Home leaving Downing Street in 1973 hasn't started formal accession talks, so it's obvious that UK accession to Europe is later than OTL for better or worse.
In my mind, I would term the UK's eventual European membership as "constructive disagreement" in this TL, instead of OTL's "destructive disagreement".
Agreed; places like the Falklands just don't have the population. Even if you merge it with the rest of the South Atlantic islands, it's still a population of 12,000'ish. Topic for another day again to be honest, there's enough to juggle here already
The only thing I'd point out about the Falklands, is that prior to the Falklands War, the UK was actively discussing with Argentina about the future of the islands. In OTL, this was shattered by the war, which made any kind of future talk about sovereignty a political impossibility. Like above, I haven't mentally got that far yet!
As sarah said, they are constitutionally not part of the UK (and weren't part of the EU either during the UK's OTL membership of the EU). They have historically not been subject to any migration control or major customs border though. I don't think there's going to be a major push from any of three territories though to integrate, at least not yet. One thing I've not quite managed to work out yet, is although the Channel Islanders and Manx people were not subject to border control when going to the UK, is whether those people were full UK/British citizens at least since WW2. Or if they had a slightly different nationality along with right of abode in the UK. It's proving difficult to track down in the legislation.
I mean there are some great timelines in this site to draw inspiration from for this issue, may I suggest britwank on a budget by riain
It might be worth doing something like a overview section for things like economic, military, FO effects ectra for various periods as well as comming up with the broad PM bits.
Would probably help shake out your thoughts.
We had a Manx Councillor, Charles Teare Liberal Coxheath Ward, on Maidstone Borough Council so they were certainly entitled to vote and seek public office.This is something I've been pondering. The UK has a serious cash flow issue in the 1960s and 1970s, but equally the UK wasted money hand over fist repeatedly in the same time period. I don't want to overdo it with "the UK makes every smart decision", but I want to sketch something out about this. Might dive off in to something on this topic as a break from a PM-by-PM chapters.
I've often tried to sketch out a closer Commonwealth timeline, but I always have two issues: 1) It needs a different WW2 at the very least, and possibly different WW1, and changing those completely transforms the modern world as we know it, and 2) a closer Commonwealth always feels like a game of whack-a-mole; as soon as you fix one issue, another three open up again, and before you know it you're working with PoDs in the 19th century which isn't really my thing.
As for the other points; so far in this TL, in terms of European integration it's not really been anything which hasn't happened in OTL. Metrication has occurred a few years earlier under Gaitskell, but it's not a million miles off OTL metrication by any stretch. Considering the Commonwealth agreement on moving to metric system, I think you'd find both Labour & Conservatives happy to plow on with metrication for trade with either bloc - someone has finally started the process, everyone'll be happy to let it roll on. Now we have 5 overseas MPs (3 from Malta, 1 from Gibraltar, 1 from Seychelles) - it's not huge, but it might swing elections and especially if those parties have agreed to take the whip with their Westminster counterparts.
As for the regions, that's a conversation for another day; I've not finished sketching that out yet as I can't see it happening much before the 1990s.
As for Channel Tunnel; expected opening in somewhere around 1980.
Two things I'd say in response to this:
1) UK and France have become close foreign policy and military partners here - which to me doesn't seem like a massive stretch considering they are both post-colonial countries struggling to adapt to the new world where they are no longer the top dog and no longer have an empire to fund or to fund the metropole. However, despite that partnership, the UK-France close partnership won't automatically translate to other areas though; OTL the US and UK are best of foreign policy and military partners, but that hasn't translated to any kind of UK-US free trade either pre-EEC or post-Brexit due to all kinds of differences. TTL UK-France are no different; best of foreign policy/military partners doesn't automatically mean that the UK will want to waltz straight in to the EEC. Although spoiler alert, it will end up in the EEC.
2) The UK is still going to be nowhere as European as the other European countries. It's not going to be jumping head over heels and European integration. Spoiler alert; there won't be Euro currency over the Tesco counters in this TL. But hey; maybe Tesco roll out in France a little wider then the expat shops they used to have, and maybe Carrefour or Auchan establish themselves a little in the UK. Maybe the Europe Community is a little smaller with some consequences - Douglas-Home leaving Downing Street in 1973 hasn't started formal accession talks, so it's obvious that UK accession to Europe is later than OTL for better or worse.
In my mind, I would term the UK's eventual European membership as "constructive disagreement" in this TL, instead of OTL's "destructive disagreement".
Agreed; places like the Falklands just don't have the population. Even if you merge it with the rest of the South Atlantic islands, it's still a population of 12,000'ish. Topic for another day again to be honest, there's enough to juggle here already
The only thing I'd point out about the Falklands, is that prior to the Falklands War, the UK was actively discussing with Argentina about the future of the islands. In OTL, this was shattered by the war, which made any kind of future talk about sovereignty a political impossibility. Like above, I haven't mentally got that far yet!
As sarah said, they are constitutionally not part of the UK (and weren't part of the EU either during the UK's OTL membership of the EU). They have historically not been subject to any migration control or major customs border though. I don't think there's going to be a major push from any of three territories though to integrate, at least not yet. One thing I've not quite managed to work out yet, is although the Channel Islanders and Manx people were not subject to border control when going to the UK, is whether those people were full UK/British citizens at least since WW2. Or if they had a slightly different nationality along with right of abode in the UK. It's proving difficult to track down in the legislation.
Devvy
Donor
Should have qualified my comments better! 1981 unequivocally mentions that the Channel Islands and Manx are entitled to UK citizenship, but pre-1981 I wasn't sure of their status.
I've found that the 1948 act mentions the Channel Islands and Manx as basically part of the "United Kingdom, Islands & Colonies" for nationality. 1962 immigration appears to exclude them from immigration control but their nationality wasn't 100% clear until 1981 (which grants them UK citizenship). Between 1962 and 1981 it's a little ambiguous but I've since worked out (as above) that whatever form of nationality they had in that period, they had leave to remain in the UK.
Chapter 5: Callaghan
Devvy
Donor
James Callaghan
Labour Premiership, 1973-1978, won election in 1973
Callaghan began to forge closer relations with European nations outside of France, such as West Germany, following further actions in the USA such as the Nixon Shocks which continued to alienate allies.
James Callaghan came to power following Gaitskell's poor health after his tenure as Prime Minister, and moved in to Downing Street following his 1973 election victory - following a pattern of electoral flip flops as both Conservatives and Labour struggled to deal with economic issues. This time, the election resulted in no clear Parliamentary majority - although Labour were the largest party, and a Labour-Liberal agreement with the 12 Liberal MPs gave Callaghan enough seats to govern a little more comfortably - but margins were fine enough that Callaghan had to accept some Liberal policies on core issues.
Callaghan would see the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and introduction of direct rule (later replaced by the Northern Irish Assembly) due to the increasing levels of Unionist-Republican rivalry and violence. The escalating crisis saw the introduction of the British Army to the "province" to establish law and order. Wisely, the choice was to send over a large number of the Maltese in the British Army, to work hand in hand with English/Welsh/Scottish troops on the street due to the largely Catholic Maltese soldiers. The Maltese soldiers undermined the Provisional IRA's message as "primary defenders of the Catholic community", and were rapidly used operationally in Catholic & nationalist areas. Whilst a civilian agreement on the future of Northern Ireland governance was difficult to come by, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland did at least retain some element of peace in contested areas, and assisted in efforts to transform and modernise the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Callaghan also introduced several smaller initiatives which survive today. The official name of the country became the "United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland & Overseas Islands". Post codes were introduced to the United Kingdom in the 1970s, after being testing around Norwich, with each area of the United Kingdom - including the overseas regions and many of the remaining dependencies - receiving a post code to help simplify the post system. The first installations of cable television also occurred in the 1970s, with several cities receiving the first licenses to install cable television. However, despite all the forward steps, the United Kingdom was becoming stagnant economically, and being outpaced by the nations of the Common Market. In the Labour party, disagreement between hard-left and soft-left factions came to a head after Callaghan continued to keep Labour within the soft-left policies; many hard-left members left Labour to form the Socialist Party which continues today (*1).
The introduction of Malta, Gibraltar and the Seychelles, as well as the presence of Northern Ireland all with devolved administrations (even though suspended in the case of Northern Ireland) emboldened nationalists in Scotland and Wales, and a Royal Commission on the Constitution - later known as the Devolution Commission - had been created to explore devolution within Great Britain itself under Douglas-Home - but only reported back after Callaghan became Prime Minister. It advocated for further devolution, predominately to Scotland, Wales and the English regions, and was pounced on particularly by Scottish nationalists. After government studies, a 1976 White Paper on the future of Scotland, the result was the Scotland Act 1978 - a key policy of the supporting Liberal party in return for their Parliamentary support. This brought forth the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, along the lines of the Maltese Model (*2) but reflecting Scotland's position within Great Britain - subject to a referendum which would be held in 1979. The referendum passed with a "Yes" vote of almost 60%, with many attributing the success to the successful examples of devolution in Malta as providing a clear example of how it would work. Similar to Malta, elections for the Scottish Assembly would be based on a single transferable vote across multi-member constituencies of 3 seats.
Discussions continued over the role of the United Kingdom "East of Suez" indicated a reduction in the British role and presence in the Indian and Pacific oceans, but the situation improved when the Trucial States in the Persian Gulf agreed to opt-in to "dependency status", with the UK continuing to provide primarily defence and foreign relations in return for funding from the states, and basing rights there, although the principal British base in the area would remain at Masirah Island (Oman). This also conveniently provided justification for the Royal Navy presence in Malta and the Seychelles on the route to the Indian Ocean (thereby justifying the indirect economic subsidies from the armed forces), smoothing some debates over large workforce employed in the naval dockyards and related industries. An agreement with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand led to a shrinking of UK forces in the Indo-Pacific region, but the core base at Singapore was saved. The path ahead was clear though; more and more British colonies were becoming independent; Callaghan would soon grant independence to South Yemen, Botswana and a few others; as such the British global role was shrinking... but not dead yet by any means. New Royal Navy vessels were deployed globally, covering British interests in a wide variety of locations; in Belize in support of their independence (despite Guatemalan claims on the territory), against oil shipping to Rhodesia in an attempt to enforce sanctions against the state, mine clearing work in the Suez Canal, and supporting the Trucial States as a visible deterrence against any military action.
Retaining Singapore as a base was seen additionally as diplomatically necessary to avoid overly irritating the Americans and damaging a gently recovering "Special Relationship", whilst the US was embroiled in the midst of the Vietnam War, but the eastern half of the British Cypriot bases (Dhekelia) was to be handed back to Cypriot authorities with Britain only retaining the western base (Akrotiri), as part of British cost-saving efforts. Classified until later years, it also turned out that the US would part-fund the Akrotiri base in order to use an over-the-horizon radar to monitor Soviet air movements.
In the Caribbean, the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1965 had been the sad finale of the WIF. Jamaica had left in 1962 prior to attempted unification of some economical aspects, whilst Trinidad & Tobago had then left in 1964. The remaining 8 islands, then attempted to continue with British backing, but 1965 saw the final nail in the coffin and the federation was disbanded., All islands by default returned to direct British oversight given the lack of independence, and began to pursue a variety of longer term strategies. Trinidad & Tobago, with an economy growing and focussed on their oil and gas markets had rapidly become independent in 1967. Jamaica fell under British jurisdiction once more and had gently enquired in to the possibility of British integration, but after a decidedly lukewarm reaction to it (usually pinned on the cost of a subsidy to an island with a population larger than Northern Ireland), Jamaica became independent in 1970. The remaining islands became the "West Indies Associated States", under the United Kingdom, due to their far smaller populations (*3).
The successful application of the Seychelles, and later integration of that nation in to the United Kingdom, provided a new idea for many of those West Indian islands. Almost all were less affluent in comparison with the United Kingdom, with fewer natural resources, and had observed the integration of Malta, Gibraltar and Seychelles to the United Kingdom with interest - and noted the success which those islands appeared to have had in the UK with strong devolution. Therefore, Barbados applied to join the United Kingdom in 1973, and like dominoes, most of the British territories in the Lesser Antilles applied. Notable exceptions to this, however, included the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands - all saw their future in closer economic relations with North America. This combined group of integration seeking islands in the Lesser Antilles was a combined population of approximately 700,000 people, and would almost triple the overseas population (Malta, Gibraltar, Seychelles), with little gain for the United Kingdom. The first three had clear foreign policy and defence advantages for their integration, and had a population of roughly a few hundred thousand people. The UK saw this as an identity issue writ large; the small populations in Malta, Gibraltar and Seychelles were also largely white, and didn't particularly upset the UK demographics or balance of power in Parliament. Adding circa 700,000 people in the Caribbean would add a sizeable "Black British" demographic, and potentially add around 10 MPs to Parliament - easily enough to swing close elections one way or another.
Critics derided the United Kingdom, especially in the United States where many labelled it as "a new era of colonialism", or some openly advocated for the United States to block it under the "Monroe Doctrine". Pro-integration voices shot back "who are you to decry democracy because you don't like the answer?", and pointed to the Caribbean-initiated discussion. Either way, it jointly split opinion in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the US wasn't going to send forces in to the Caribbean to oppose one of it's closest allies in world politics just after fighting in Vietnam. The consequences of the 1973 election decided it; the tiny Liberal party backed Caribbean integration, the Conservatives opposed it "on economic and financial grounds" officially, and Labour were either split or gently supported it with reservations depending on which viewpoint you went by.
The 1973 election, and quasi-victory for Callaghan (and the Liberals as the supporting party), had opened the door for the Caribbean territories however, with Liberal support. It also balanced Callaghan's 1975 Immigration Act which would substantially reduce the right-of-abode for non-UK born citizens (ie. from the colonies). By admitting the substantially black-populated Caribbean territories to the United Kingdom, even over the reservations of the Treasury, Callaghan could deflect from political accusations of direct racism with the immigration reforms, by pointing to the West Indies and their future rights to live and work in the United Kingdom itself. Late 1977 saw legislation passed by Callaghan's government to allow the integration the islands, and would be duly confirmed by a referendum across the Associated States in early 1979. All the islands voted for integration to varying degrees, although given the hosting of the referendum as a single referendum over the entire British West Indies, it was unsure what would have happened if any of the islands had themselves voted against integration.
The integration process itself would be longer then previous overseas regions, with a 12 year integration plan, to slowly bring the Caribbean islands to UK standards, whilst the islands would receive 12 Members of Parliament following the work of the English Boundary Commission in lieu of a West Indies Boundary Commission, given the disparities of island population, with Anguilla, St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat all having to be merged in to a single Westminster constituency. For local government reasons, the islands would form a single Home Nation within the United Kingdom named the West Indies, centred in Barbados, but with strong decentralisation to the individual islands to try and avoid the kind of political infighting seen previous in the West Indies Federation. Although the new Caribbean UK islands were unready for voting in the next election, a string of "introductory" by-elections would introduce MPs for the 12 UK West Indies constituencies in 1980.
However, with economic malaise widely setting in, public sector strikes on pay, and being forced to seek a loan from the IMF to tackle Britain's financial crisis, Callaghan had sunk to a new low for popularity with the electorate. Now with Scottish devolution and West Indies integration agreed, and governing with only Liberal support, and an Parliamentary election almost at time, Callaghan called for elections in mid-1978 following the West Indies integration. The following election got distasteful, with the some local Tory groups warning against a wave of Caribbean migration if if the integration was not aborted, using outright racist phrases in some cases such as Smethwick (*4), and some commenting on a "river of blood from this nation" should it occur. Callaghan duly lost as expected, but the return of the Conservatives did not derail the West Indies integration - they were now part of the United Kingdom.
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(*1) Reverse OTL split - instead of the Labour right splitting off to the SDP, as in this OTL following Gaitskell the Labour right have been in power, the Labour left have split off to form the Socialist Party.
(*2) The "Maltese Model" becoming the British template for devolution and the balance of powers between Westminster and the devolved nation. Scottish devolution is slightly higher then OTL, due to the existing examples of Northern Ireland as well as Malta, Seychelles & Gibraltar.
(*3) West Indies on their way in. I did wonder whether I could shoehorn Jamaica in, to give a real jolt of divergence from OTL, but I think it's a jump too far. Northern Ireland is a money drain at this point in time, and Jamaica will eclipse NI. The Treasury will have an absolute fit over it at a time when the economy is shaky anyway. Due to the East African Federation (mentioned in passing in earlier chapters) succeeding as Britain retreats a bit more slowly from Africa as no Suez, it also means that the expulsion of the Asians from Uganda hasn't happened here. So by 1974 and the UK deciding whether to agree to integration with the Caribbean, it hasn't already accepted tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians which makes it a little more open.
(*4) We all know which election slogans, but I can't bring myself to repeat those words even in an act of fiction here. They can stay in the past where they belong.
Labour Premiership, 1973-1978, won election in 1973
Callaghan began to forge closer relations with European nations outside of France, such as West Germany, following further actions in the USA such as the Nixon Shocks which continued to alienate allies.
James Callaghan came to power following Gaitskell's poor health after his tenure as Prime Minister, and moved in to Downing Street following his 1973 election victory - following a pattern of electoral flip flops as both Conservatives and Labour struggled to deal with economic issues. This time, the election resulted in no clear Parliamentary majority - although Labour were the largest party, and a Labour-Liberal agreement with the 12 Liberal MPs gave Callaghan enough seats to govern a little more comfortably - but margins were fine enough that Callaghan had to accept some Liberal policies on core issues.
Callaghan would see the suspension of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and introduction of direct rule (later replaced by the Northern Irish Assembly) due to the increasing levels of Unionist-Republican rivalry and violence. The escalating crisis saw the introduction of the British Army to the "province" to establish law and order. Wisely, the choice was to send over a large number of the Maltese in the British Army, to work hand in hand with English/Welsh/Scottish troops on the street due to the largely Catholic Maltese soldiers. The Maltese soldiers undermined the Provisional IRA's message as "primary defenders of the Catholic community", and were rapidly used operationally in Catholic & nationalist areas. Whilst a civilian agreement on the future of Northern Ireland governance was difficult to come by, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland did at least retain some element of peace in contested areas, and assisted in efforts to transform and modernise the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
Callaghan also introduced several smaller initiatives which survive today. The official name of the country became the "United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland & Overseas Islands". Post codes were introduced to the United Kingdom in the 1970s, after being testing around Norwich, with each area of the United Kingdom - including the overseas regions and many of the remaining dependencies - receiving a post code to help simplify the post system. The first installations of cable television also occurred in the 1970s, with several cities receiving the first licenses to install cable television. However, despite all the forward steps, the United Kingdom was becoming stagnant economically, and being outpaced by the nations of the Common Market. In the Labour party, disagreement between hard-left and soft-left factions came to a head after Callaghan continued to keep Labour within the soft-left policies; many hard-left members left Labour to form the Socialist Party which continues today (*1).
The introduction of Malta, Gibraltar and the Seychelles, as well as the presence of Northern Ireland all with devolved administrations (even though suspended in the case of Northern Ireland) emboldened nationalists in Scotland and Wales, and a Royal Commission on the Constitution - later known as the Devolution Commission - had been created to explore devolution within Great Britain itself under Douglas-Home - but only reported back after Callaghan became Prime Minister. It advocated for further devolution, predominately to Scotland, Wales and the English regions, and was pounced on particularly by Scottish nationalists. After government studies, a 1976 White Paper on the future of Scotland, the result was the Scotland Act 1978 - a key policy of the supporting Liberal party in return for their Parliamentary support. This brought forth the establishment of a Scottish Assembly, along the lines of the Maltese Model (*2) but reflecting Scotland's position within Great Britain - subject to a referendum which would be held in 1979. The referendum passed with a "Yes" vote of almost 60%, with many attributing the success to the successful examples of devolution in Malta as providing a clear example of how it would work. Similar to Malta, elections for the Scottish Assembly would be based on a single transferable vote across multi-member constituencies of 3 seats.
Discussions continued over the role of the United Kingdom "East of Suez" indicated a reduction in the British role and presence in the Indian and Pacific oceans, but the situation improved when the Trucial States in the Persian Gulf agreed to opt-in to "dependency status", with the UK continuing to provide primarily defence and foreign relations in return for funding from the states, and basing rights there, although the principal British base in the area would remain at Masirah Island (Oman). This also conveniently provided justification for the Royal Navy presence in Malta and the Seychelles on the route to the Indian Ocean (thereby justifying the indirect economic subsidies from the armed forces), smoothing some debates over large workforce employed in the naval dockyards and related industries. An agreement with Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand led to a shrinking of UK forces in the Indo-Pacific region, but the core base at Singapore was saved. The path ahead was clear though; more and more British colonies were becoming independent; Callaghan would soon grant independence to South Yemen, Botswana and a few others; as such the British global role was shrinking... but not dead yet by any means. New Royal Navy vessels were deployed globally, covering British interests in a wide variety of locations; in Belize in support of their independence (despite Guatemalan claims on the territory), against oil shipping to Rhodesia in an attempt to enforce sanctions against the state, mine clearing work in the Suez Canal, and supporting the Trucial States as a visible deterrence against any military action.
Retaining Singapore as a base was seen additionally as diplomatically necessary to avoid overly irritating the Americans and damaging a gently recovering "Special Relationship", whilst the US was embroiled in the midst of the Vietnam War, but the eastern half of the British Cypriot bases (Dhekelia) was to be handed back to Cypriot authorities with Britain only retaining the western base (Akrotiri), as part of British cost-saving efforts. Classified until later years, it also turned out that the US would part-fund the Akrotiri base in order to use an over-the-horizon radar to monitor Soviet air movements.
In the Caribbean, the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1965 had been the sad finale of the WIF. Jamaica had left in 1962 prior to attempted unification of some economical aspects, whilst Trinidad & Tobago had then left in 1964. The remaining 8 islands, then attempted to continue with British backing, but 1965 saw the final nail in the coffin and the federation was disbanded., All islands by default returned to direct British oversight given the lack of independence, and began to pursue a variety of longer term strategies. Trinidad & Tobago, with an economy growing and focussed on their oil and gas markets had rapidly become independent in 1967. Jamaica fell under British jurisdiction once more and had gently enquired in to the possibility of British integration, but after a decidedly lukewarm reaction to it (usually pinned on the cost of a subsidy to an island with a population larger than Northern Ireland), Jamaica became independent in 1970. The remaining islands became the "West Indies Associated States", under the United Kingdom, due to their far smaller populations (*3).
The successful application of the Seychelles, and later integration of that nation in to the United Kingdom, provided a new idea for many of those West Indian islands. Almost all were less affluent in comparison with the United Kingdom, with fewer natural resources, and had observed the integration of Malta, Gibraltar and Seychelles to the United Kingdom with interest - and noted the success which those islands appeared to have had in the UK with strong devolution. Therefore, Barbados applied to join the United Kingdom in 1973, and like dominoes, most of the British territories in the Lesser Antilles applied. Notable exceptions to this, however, included the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos Islands - all saw their future in closer economic relations with North America. This combined group of integration seeking islands in the Lesser Antilles was a combined population of approximately 700,000 people, and would almost triple the overseas population (Malta, Gibraltar, Seychelles), with little gain for the United Kingdom. The first three had clear foreign policy and defence advantages for their integration, and had a population of roughly a few hundred thousand people. The UK saw this as an identity issue writ large; the small populations in Malta, Gibraltar and Seychelles were also largely white, and didn't particularly upset the UK demographics or balance of power in Parliament. Adding circa 700,000 people in the Caribbean would add a sizeable "Black British" demographic, and potentially add around 10 MPs to Parliament - easily enough to swing close elections one way or another.
Critics derided the United Kingdom, especially in the United States where many labelled it as "a new era of colonialism", or some openly advocated for the United States to block it under the "Monroe Doctrine". Pro-integration voices shot back "who are you to decry democracy because you don't like the answer?", and pointed to the Caribbean-initiated discussion. Either way, it jointly split opinion in the United Kingdom and the United States, and the US wasn't going to send forces in to the Caribbean to oppose one of it's closest allies in world politics just after fighting in Vietnam. The consequences of the 1973 election decided it; the tiny Liberal party backed Caribbean integration, the Conservatives opposed it "on economic and financial grounds" officially, and Labour were either split or gently supported it with reservations depending on which viewpoint you went by.
The 1973 election, and quasi-victory for Callaghan (and the Liberals as the supporting party), had opened the door for the Caribbean territories however, with Liberal support. It also balanced Callaghan's 1975 Immigration Act which would substantially reduce the right-of-abode for non-UK born citizens (ie. from the colonies). By admitting the substantially black-populated Caribbean territories to the United Kingdom, even over the reservations of the Treasury, Callaghan could deflect from political accusations of direct racism with the immigration reforms, by pointing to the West Indies and their future rights to live and work in the United Kingdom itself. Late 1977 saw legislation passed by Callaghan's government to allow the integration the islands, and would be duly confirmed by a referendum across the Associated States in early 1979. All the islands voted for integration to varying degrees, although given the hosting of the referendum as a single referendum over the entire British West Indies, it was unsure what would have happened if any of the islands had themselves voted against integration.
The integration process itself would be longer then previous overseas regions, with a 12 year integration plan, to slowly bring the Caribbean islands to UK standards, whilst the islands would receive 12 Members of Parliament following the work of the English Boundary Commission in lieu of a West Indies Boundary Commission, given the disparities of island population, with Anguilla, St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat all having to be merged in to a single Westminster constituency. For local government reasons, the islands would form a single Home Nation within the United Kingdom named the West Indies, centred in Barbados, but with strong decentralisation to the individual islands to try and avoid the kind of political infighting seen previous in the West Indies Federation. Although the new Caribbean UK islands were unready for voting in the next election, a string of "introductory" by-elections would introduce MPs for the 12 UK West Indies constituencies in 1980.
However, with economic malaise widely setting in, public sector strikes on pay, and being forced to seek a loan from the IMF to tackle Britain's financial crisis, Callaghan had sunk to a new low for popularity with the electorate. Now with Scottish devolution and West Indies integration agreed, and governing with only Liberal support, and an Parliamentary election almost at time, Callaghan called for elections in mid-1978 following the West Indies integration. The following election got distasteful, with the some local Tory groups warning against a wave of Caribbean migration if if the integration was not aborted, using outright racist phrases in some cases such as Smethwick (*4), and some commenting on a "river of blood from this nation" should it occur. Callaghan duly lost as expected, but the return of the Conservatives did not derail the West Indies integration - they were now part of the United Kingdom.
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(*1) Reverse OTL split - instead of the Labour right splitting off to the SDP, as in this OTL following Gaitskell the Labour right have been in power, the Labour left have split off to form the Socialist Party.
(*2) The "Maltese Model" becoming the British template for devolution and the balance of powers between Westminster and the devolved nation. Scottish devolution is slightly higher then OTL, due to the existing examples of Northern Ireland as well as Malta, Seychelles & Gibraltar.
(*3) West Indies on their way in. I did wonder whether I could shoehorn Jamaica in, to give a real jolt of divergence from OTL, but I think it's a jump too far. Northern Ireland is a money drain at this point in time, and Jamaica will eclipse NI. The Treasury will have an absolute fit over it at a time when the economy is shaky anyway. Due to the East African Federation (mentioned in passing in earlier chapters) succeeding as Britain retreats a bit more slowly from Africa as no Suez, it also means that the expulsion of the Asians from Uganda hasn't happened here. So by 1974 and the UK deciding whether to agree to integration with the Caribbean, it hasn't already accepted tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians which makes it a little more open.
(*4) We all know which election slogans, but I can't bring myself to repeat those words even in an act of fiction here. They can stay in the past where they belong.
Interesting chapter.
I wonder how much Callaghan decision was will be lauded as good in the long term when Brits can fly or sail to the UK in the hot, hot Caribbean sun? Should have an impact on Spanish package holiday's, ditto Malta!
How much is pop culture changed by the influence of the new UK regions? Is reggae and ska coming over sooner?
With the US not as friendly to the UK this should massively impact the effects of US TV shows and movies coming to the UK, esp in the 60's onwards. Does the UK see Dragnet, Battlestar Galactica, Dallas, etc?
How about computing? I could see the UK/Commonwealth having a stronger native computing environment from having to build their own kit- this should have an economic impact. Sure, the 70's would still be bad, it was globally, but it should not be anywhere near as terrible as OTL.
Given changed circumstances I can actually see Thatcher, monetarism, and the destruction of the UK industrial base being avoided.
I wonder how much Callaghan decision was will be lauded as good in the long term when Brits can fly or sail to the UK in the hot, hot Caribbean sun? Should have an impact on Spanish package holiday's, ditto Malta!
How much is pop culture changed by the influence of the new UK regions? Is reggae and ska coming over sooner?
With the US not as friendly to the UK this should massively impact the effects of US TV shows and movies coming to the UK, esp in the 60's onwards. Does the UK see Dragnet, Battlestar Galactica, Dallas, etc?
How about computing? I could see the UK/Commonwealth having a stronger native computing environment from having to build their own kit- this should have an economic impact. Sure, the 70's would still be bad, it was globally, but it should not be anywhere near as terrible as OTL.
Given changed circumstances I can actually see Thatcher, monetarism, and the destruction of the UK industrial base being avoided.
Hmm with all these overseas territories RN with something like the Rivers or Frigates and RFA maybe more New Fort Class ships or smaller stores there will be bigger also probably more Martime and transport aircraft under devlopment for the RAF.
Malta already has a regiment as does Bermuda have to wonder if what left of the Caribbean territories will get a regiment or will the larger islands get a territorial company.
Malta already has a regiment as does Bermuda have to wonder if what left of the Caribbean territories will get a regiment or will the larger islands get a territorial company.