TNAG-1297-FCO40-1652-Visit-by-Sir-Geoffrey-Howe--Secretary-of-State-for-Foreign-a-1984 — Page 147

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INTRODUCTION

1. On 23 January the Prime Minister announced to the House of Commons that, once the outcome of the renegotiation of the terms of membership was known, a referendum would be held on whether the United Kingdom should continue as a member of the European Community or should withdraw. (The full statement is at Annex A.)

2. When the outcome of renegotiation is known the Government will decide upon their own recommendation to the country, whether for con- tinued membership of the Community on the basis of the renegotiated terms or for withdrawal. The present White Paper is concerned only with the organisation of the referendum ie the organisation of the poll, the pro- vision of information to the voters and the scope of the legislation required.

3. The Government have studied the experience of other countries, with particular reference to those such as Australia and New Zealand with political systems closely related to ours and to the referenda on entry into the European Community held by Denmark, the Republic of Ireland and Norway in 1972. (Annex B summarises the practice in a number of countries.)

4. The period of further uncertainty over our membership of the Com- munity should be kept as short as possible in our own interests and those of other Community Governments. In his statement on 23 January the Prime Minister said "Provided the outcome of renegotiation is known in time, we intend to hold the referendum before the summer holidays, which means in practice not later than the end of June". He went on to say that the Govern- ment proposed to introduce the necessary legislation around Easter-time with a view to securing Royal Assent before the end of May. If the referendum is to be held before the summer holidays, it will be essential to complete the renegotiation and to prepare and enact legislation in accordance with that timetable.

2. THE POLL AND THE QUESTION

5. The Government's general approach to the organisation of the referen- dum is that the familiar procedures and practices applied to normal United Kingdom elections should be used as far as possible. The same approach applies to the more general questions of the size of the poll and of the majority required to provide a decisive result; these are discussed below.

Size of Poll and Majority

6. The Government have agreed to be bound by the verdict of the British people, as expressed in the referendum result. They have considered whether that result should be subject to any special conditions in terms of the size of the poll or the extent of the majority.

7. It may be argued that a verdict of such importance should not depend on a simple majority theoretically a single vote in an electorate of 40 million.

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