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Hi all

I don't know if this has been discussed and if it has can someone please give me the thread but I found out that Malta was the most likely colony to be integrated into the UK. Rightly so they even had a referendum on it and how close it was for them to be integrated into the UK was bafflingly strange.

The referendum required a 60% total turnout but on the two fatal days only 59.1% turned out.

For: (67,607) (77.00%)
Against: (20,177) (23.00&)
Total: (90,343) (100%)
Registered voters/turnout: (152,783) (59.10%)

So 152,783 - 90,343 = 62440 voters did not vote for a some reason! Here is the statistical source plus the proposal between the UK and Malta: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltese_United_Kingdom_integration_referendum,_1956)

The reason is and I quote "A UK integration referendum was held on 11 and 12 February 1956, in which 77.02 per cent of voters were in favour of the proposal, but owing to a boycott by the Nationalist Party and the Church, only 59.1 per cent of the electorate voted, thereby rendering the result inconclusive. There were also concerns expressed by British MPs that the representation of Malta at Westminster would set a precedent for other colonies, and influence the outcome of general elections."

The first reason is 99.9% damning than the second to why Malta did not get integrated into the UK. The UK would have been forced to integrate Malta regardless if 60% of the electorate turned out, plus most British territories wanted out. The only way I could see this affecting any other colony would be Hong Kong and still the UK could have used it their advantage to keep just two vital parts of many within its collapsing empire.

Give Hong Kong the vote, they'll like the British more than the Chinese because of it and then have a referendum in Hong Kong to whether or not they want to stay with the British or go with the Chinese. (i.e. do you want the free vote or don't you.)

The only thing to prevent is the boycott... any ideas and the most important question, what would have happened after? You'd need a competent prime minister to keep Hong Kong in my expanded scenario, like Margaret Thatcher it would definitely give her more bargaining chips to it. Maybe with British presence and influence in Asia, Singapore might even join, however I might be wrong I'm not too brushed up on that.
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