Thursday, June 5th, 1975
Cast my vote in the Referendum (the British electorate was asked: Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community). I voted ‘Yes’ because I was not in the end convinced that the retention of our full sovereignty and the total freedom to make our own decisions, which was the cornerstone of the Noes’ case, was jeopardised seriously enough by entering the Market. And I feel that the grey men of Brussels are no worse than the grey men of Whitehall anyway.
But I didn’t decide on my vote until this morning, when I read the words of one of my favourite gurus, Keith Waterhouse. He would vote ‘Yes’ he thought, but without great enthusiasm for the Referendum or the way its campaign has been conducted, because of the attractions of the European quality of life! And he concludes, ‘I may be naïve in hoping that remaining in Europe will make us more European, but after a thousand years of insularity from which have evolved the bingo parlour, carbonised beer and Crossroads, I am inclined to give it a whirl.’
Footnote: 67% per cent said yes. Of the administrative regions, the only rejections were in Shetland and the Western Isles.