The Impact of the EU on UK Politics (AQA A-Level Politics): Revision Notes
The Impact of the EU on UK Politics
The EU had a profound impact on UK politics throughout Britain's membership from 1973 to 2020. This influence extended across multiple areas of the political system, fundamentally reshaping how the UK functioned as a democratic state. These impacts can be examined thematically across five key areas.
Constitution, sovereignty and referendums
Parliamentary sovereignty
EU membership fundamentally challenged the traditional concept of parliamentary sovereignty in the UK. Whilst Britain remained an EU member, Parliament could not pass legislation that contradicted EU law. EU legislation always took priority, which meant British lawmakers faced significant constraints in certain policy areas.
Examples of these constraints included:
- Farming and fishing quotas were strictly controlled by EU regulations, limiting the UK's ability to set its own rules
- VAT rates could not be altered freely, as demonstrated by the failed campaign to remove the 'tampon tax' on women's sanitary products
- Any domestic legislation that conflicted with EU law was rendered invalid
The constitutional principle that 'no parliament can bind its successor' remained intact throughout EU membership. The restrictions on parliamentary sovereignty were self-imposed when Parliament passed the European Communities Act 1972. These limitations were subsequently removed when this Act was repealed during the Brexit process, demonstrating that Parliament ultimately retained the power to restore its full sovereignty.
Referendums and the sovereignty debate
The use of referendums to decide UK membership in 1975 and 2016 created an important tension between popular sovereignty (the will of the people) and parliamentary sovereignty (the will of elected representatives).
The 1975 referendum produced no conflict because both the public and Parliament supported continued EEC membership. However, the 2016 Brexit referendum exposed a significant mismatch: whilst a majority of MPs favoured remaining in the EU, a narrow majority of voters chose to leave.
This raised fundamental questions about democracy:
- Do referendums represent the 'pure' will of the people, unfiltered by representative democracy?
- Or do they demonstrate the inherent problems with direct democracy?
- Should Parliament follow the referendum result even when most MPs disagreed with it?
The answers to these questions largely depended on whether one supported Leave or Remain, highlighting how EU membership became a deeply divisive constitutional issue.
Government and parliament
Policy-making constraints
EU membership significantly affected how the UK government could make policy. All proposed legislation had to comply with EU law before it could be implemented. Beyond this basic requirement, EU membership created additional constraints on government action.
Competition rules made it more difficult for governments to provide financial support to struggling industries, as any proposed bailout required EU approval to ensure fair competition across member states. This limited the government's ability to intervene in the economy according to domestic priorities.
Had the UK adopted the euro or joined the Schengen Agreement (which removes border controls between participating countries), the impact would have been even more substantial. For instance, joining the eurozone would have meant the Bank of England could no longer set its own interest rates, transferring this crucial economic lever to the European Central Bank.
Areas of retained control
Despite these constraints, the EU's impact on policy was limited in areas outside its direct competences. Health and education remained fully under national government control, allowing the UK to design and implement policies in these crucial areas according to domestic preferences without EU interference.
Brexit and parliamentary gridlock
The complex process of passing Brexit legislation through Parliament between 2017 and 2020 created unprecedented challenges for the UK's political system. This period saw unusual parliamentary gridlock, with neither government nor opposition able to command a clear majority for their preferred Brexit approach.
In a highly unusual development, Parliament briefly seized control of the parliamentary timetable from the government in 2019, demonstrating how profoundly Brexit had disrupted normal parliamentary procedures and the traditional balance of power between the executive and legislature.
Judiciary
The supremacy of EU law
EU membership required UK judges to prioritise EU law when making legal judgements. This represented a significant shift in the UK's legal system, effectively placing EU law above domestic legislation, including Acts of Parliament.
The Factortame case (1990)
The Factortame case provided the clearest demonstration of EU law's supremacy over British law. The Law Lords (the predecessors to the UK Supreme Court) ruled unanimously that the Merchant Shipping Act 1988 was illegal under EU law. Because the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) had already determined this illegality, UK judges applied that judgement when making their own decision about related compensation claims.
Lord Pannick, a crossbench peer and barrister, described Factortame's significance:
the most significant decision of United Kingdom courts on EU law…It brought home to lawyers, politicians and the public in this jurisdiction that EU law really did have supremacy over Acts of Parliament.
This case demonstrated that EU membership meant even primary legislation passed by the UK Parliament could be overruled if it conflicted with EU law, representing a fundamental challenge to traditional concepts of parliamentary sovereignty.
Political parties
Divisions within parties
EU membership created deep divisions within both major political parties, though at different times and to varying degrees.
Labour divisions (1970s): During the 1970s, the Labour Party was most visibly split over European integration. These divisions contributed to internal party tensions during this period.
Conservative divisions (1980s onwards): From the 1980s, the Conservative Party became increasingly divided over Europe. Sharp differences emerged between:
- Eurosceptics (those who opposed further European integration or favoured leaving the EU altogether) such as John Redwood
- Pro-Europeans (those who supported the EU and UK membership) such as Ken Clarke
These divisions reached their peak in September 2019 when 21 Conservative MPs had the whip withdrawn after they defied party leadership and voted to prevent a no-deal Brexit. This represented one of the largest rebellions in modern British political history. The split was only resolved following the Conservative Party's clear victory in the December 2019 general election, which gave the government a working majority to implement its Brexit policy.
Unifying effects on some parties
Whilst the EU divided the major parties, it served as a rallying point for others. The issue unified:
- Scottish National Party (SNP) and Plaid Cymru (Welsh nationalists), both of which strongly supported EU membership
- Liberal Democrats, who embraced a firmly pro-EU position and promised to revoke Article 50 in their 2019 election manifesto
For these parties, supporting EU membership became a core part of their political identity and helped distinguish them from the major parties.
Voting behaviour
Age as the key predictor
The Brexit referendum provided compelling evidence that age had become more important than social class in determining voting behaviour. No other demographic factor predicted how an individual would vote as accurately as their age.
Younger voters overwhelmingly supported remaining in the EU, whilst older voters tended to favour leaving. This generational divide represented a significant shift in British electoral politics and highlighted how EU membership had become a defining political issue that cut across traditional class-based voting patterns.
Key Points to Remember:
- Parliamentary sovereignty was significantly affected by EU membership, with EU law taking precedence over UK law until Brexit
- The principle that 'no parliament can bind its successor' meant Parliament could ultimately restore its sovereignty by repealing the European Communities Act 1972
- Referendums in 1975 and 2016 created tensions between popular and parliamentary sovereignty, particularly when public and parliamentary opinion diverged
- The Factortame case (1990) demonstrated that EU law could override even Acts of Parliament, making it the most significant legal decision on EU law supremacy
- EU membership divided both major parties: Labour in the 1970s and Conservatives from the 1980s onwards, with 21 Tory MPs losing the whip in 2019 over Brexit
- Age became the strongest predictor of voting behaviour in the Brexit referendum, more important than traditional factors like social class
- Some policy areas like health and education remained fully under UK government control throughout EU membership