The 1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum was a public vote that took place on 5 June 1975, on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Communities which was principally the European Economic Community (the Common Market). At the time the UK had already been a member of the EC for two and a half years since joining back on 1 January 1973 and was the first ever national referendum of its kind to be held in the country.

This article lists, by voting area, all the results of the referendum, each ordered into national sections.

Under the provisions of the Referendum Act 1975 there was a total of 68 counting areas across the United Kingdom in which counting took place locally. Once the counting areas had officially declared, their results were then relayed by the returning officers to the Chief counting officer Sir Philip Allen who later declared the final result, In England there was a total of 47 counting areas which were made up of the then county council areas of England along with Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. In Wales there was just 8 counting areas which were also made up by the then county council areas. In Scotland the then 12 administrative regions were used as the counting areas with Northern Ireland acting as a single counting area. This meant that of the counting areas the Isles of Scilly with 1,447 eligible voters had the smallest electorate and was also the smallest geographically and Greater London with 5,250,343 eligible voters had the largest electorate and Highland in northern Scotland was the largest geographically with 127,925 eligible voters.

This made for a highly centralised national count with local authorities (district councils) in England and Wales verifying votes locally after polls closed but counting of all totals were only permitted to be held and declared at county council or Scottish regional council level apart from the Isles of Scilly and was not overseen by any independent public body.

Verification of the votes took place after the polling stations closed but counting of the votes did not start until the following morning on Friday 6 June from 09:00 BST, the day after the poll took place and presented unique challenges as large venues were required as there had been no previous experience of counting on such a large and centralised scale and took almost fourteen hours to complete.

United Kingdom The national result for the United Kingdom was declared just before 2300 BST on Friday 6 June 1975 by the Chief Counting Officer Sir Philip Allen at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. With a national turnout of 64% the target to secure the majority win for the winning side was 12,951,598 votes. The decision by the electorate was a decisive 'Yes' to continued EC membership which won by a huge majority of 8,908,508 votes (34.5%) over those who had voted 'No' to reject continued membership. The result saw decisive 'Yes' votes from all four old Kingdoms, Principality and Province of the United Kingdom and also saw 'Yes' majority votes from all but two counting areas to continued membership of the European Communities (Common Market) which would later become the European Union.

Results by United Kingdom constituent countries Country Electorate Voter turnout, of eligible Votes Proportion of votes Invalid votes Highest Yes vote Highest No vote Yes No Yes No   England 33,356,208 64.6% 14,918,009 6,182,052 68.65%31.35% 42,161 North Yorkshire 76.3% Tyne and Wear 37.1%   1,030,534 47.4% 259,251 237,911 52.19%47.81% 1,589 One voting area One voting area   Scotland 3,688,799 61.7% 1,332,186 948,039 58.42%41.58% 6,481 Borders 72.3% Western Isles 70.5%   Wales 2,011,136 66.7% 869,135 472,071 64.80%35.20% 4,339 Powys 74.3% Mid Glamorgan 43.1%

England

United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 England Choice Votes % Yes 14,918,009 68.65% No 6,812,052 31.35% Valid votes 21,730,061 99.81% Invalid or blank votes 42,161 0.19% Total votes 21,772,222 100.00% Registered voters and turnout 33,356,208 64.60%

+ England referendum results (without spoiled ballots) Yes: 14,918,009 (68.6%) No: 6,812,052 (31.4%) ▲

England was broken down into 47 counting areas.

County Votes Proportion of votes Turnout Yes No Yes No Avon310,145147,02467.8%32.2%68.7% Bedfordshire154,33867,96969.4%30.6%67.9% Berkshire215,18481,22172.6%27.4%66.4% Buckinghamshire180,51262,57874.3%25.7%69.5% Cambridgeshire177,78962,14374.1%25.9%62.9% Cheshire290,714123,83970.1%29.9%65.5% Cleveland158,98277,07967.3%32.7%60.2% Cornwall137,82863,47868.5%31.5%66.8% Cumbria162,54563,56471.9%28.1%64.8% Derbyshire286,614131,45268.6%31.4%64.1% Devon334,244129,17972.1%27.9%68.0% Dorset217,43278,23973.5%26.4%68.3% Durham175,28497,72464.2%35.8%61.5% Essex463,505222,08567.6%32.4%67.7% Gloucestershire170,93167,46571.7%28.3%68.4% Greater London2,201,0311,100,18566.7%33.3%60.8% Greater Manchester797,316439,19164.5%35.5%64.1% Hampshire484,302197,76171.0%29.0%68.0% Hereford and Worcester203,12875,77972.8%27.2%66.4% Hertfordshire326,943137,22670.4%29.6%70.2% Humberside257,826122,19967.8%32.2%62.4% Isle of Wight40,83717,37570.2%29.8%67.5% Isles of Scilly80227574.5%25.5%75.0% Kent493,407207,35870.4%29.6%67.4% Lancashire455,170208,82168.6%31.4%66.4% Leicestershire291,500106,00473.3%26.7%67.2% Lincolnshire180,60361,01174.7%25.3%63.7% Merseyside465,625252,71264.8%35.2%62.7% Norfolk218,88393,19870.1%29.9%63.8% Northamptonshire162,80371,32269.5%30.5%66.7% Northumberland95,98042,64569.2%30.8%65.0% Nottinghamshire297,191147,46166.8%33.2%63.1% Oxfordshire179,93864,64373.6%26.4%67.7% Shropshire113,04443,32972.3%27.7%62.0% Somerset138,83060,63169.6%30.4%67.7% Staffordshire306,518148,25267.4%32.6%64.3% Suffolk187,48472,25172.2%27.8%64.9% Surrey386,369120,57676.2%23.8%70.1% East Sussex249,78086,19874.3%25.7%65.8% West Sussex242,89075,92876.2%23.8%68.6% Tyne and Wear344,069202,51162.9%37.1%62.7% Warwickshire156,30367,22169.9%30.1%68.0% West Midlands801,913429,20765.1%34.9%62.5% Wiltshire172,79168,11371.7%28.3%67.8% North Yorkshire234,04072,80576.3%23.7%64.3% South Yorkshire377,916217,79263.4%36.6%62.4% West Yorkshire616,730326,99365.4%34.6%63.6% source: The Guardian

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland was a single counting area.

United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 Northern Ireland Choice Votes % Yes 259,251 52.19% No 237,911 47.81% Valid votes 497,162 99.68% Invalid or blank votes 1,589 0.32% Total votes 498,751 100.00% Registered voters and turnout 1,030,534 47.40%

+ Northern Ireland referendum results (without spoiled ballots) Yes: 259,251 (52.2%) No: 237,911 (47.8%) ▲

Scotland United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 Scotland Choice Votes % Yes 1,332,208 58.42% No 948,039 41.58% Valid votes 2,280,225 99.72% Invalid or blank votes 6,451 0.28% Total votes 2,286,676 100.00% Registered voters and turnout 3,688,799 61.70%

+ Scotland referendum results (without spoiled ballots) Yes: 1,332,186 (58.4%) No: 948,039 (42.6%) ▲

Scotland was broken down into 12 counting areas. Region Votes Proportion of votes Turnout Yes No Yes No Borders34,09213,05372.3%27.7%63.2% Central71,98648,56859.7%40.3%64.1% Dumfries and Galloway42,60819,85668.2%31.8%61.5% Fife84,23965,26056.3%43.7%63.3% Grampian108,52078,07158.2%41.8%57.4% Highland40,80233,97954.6%45.4%58.7% Lothian208,133141,45659.5%40.5%63.6% Orkney3,9112,41961.8%38.2%48.2% Shetland2,8153,63143.7%56.3%47.1% Strathclyde625,959459,07357.7%42.3%61.7% Tayside105,72874,56758.6%41.4%63.8% Western Isles3,3938,10629.5%70.5%50.1% source: The Guardian

Wales United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum, 1975 Wales Choice Votes % Yes Ydw 869,135 64.80% NoNac Ydw 472,071 35.20% Valid votes 1,345,545 99.68% Invalid or blank votes 4,339 0.32% Total votes 815,628 100.00% Registered voters and turnout 2,011,136 66.90%

+ Wales referendum results (without spoiled ballots) Yes: 869,135 (64.8%) No: 472,071 (35.2%) ▲

Wales was broken down into 8 counting areas.

County Votes Proportion of votes Turnout Yes No Yes No Clwyd123,98055,42469.1%30.9%65.8% Dyfed109,18452,26467.6%32.4%67.5% Mid Glamorgan147,348111,67256.9%43.1%66.6% South Glamorgan127,93256,22469.5%30.5%66.7% West Glamorgan112,98970,31661.6%38.4%67.4% Gwent132,55780,99262.1%37.9%68.2% Gwynedd76,42131,80770.6%29.4%64.3% Powys38,72413,37274.3%25.7%67.9% source: The Guardian

See also Referendum Act 1975 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum Results of the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum European Communities Act 1972 (UK)

References