The European Communities Act 1972 (Repeal) Bills were a series of private member's bills of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

to make provision for the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 and end the United Kingdom’s membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

which at the time of the first bill being presented to Parliament for its first reading on 20 June 2012 by the then prominent Eurosceptic

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

MP for Clacton Douglas Carswell was approaching its 40th anniversary of being on the statute book. On 26 October 2012 the first bill received its second reading with a half hour debate in the Commons however at the time it did not carry the wider support of the Conservative Party and failed to progress any further before the then current session of Parliament ended. The first bill is also notable for being the first ever private members bill ever to be crowd funded.

Criticism

The first Bill was widely criticised at the time for not including any commitment to the holding of any referendum before the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 should take place.

Second Bill

The second bill of the same name was presented to Parliament for its first reading by the prominent Conservative Eurosceptic MP for

Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...

Philip Hollobone almost exactly a year after the first bill was presented on 20 June 2013, some five months after the Bloomberg speech although unlike the previous bill it never received a second reading and the bill failed to progress any further partly due to the fact at exactly the same time the European Union (Referendum) Bill 2013–14 was going through the House of Commons and had the wider support of the Conservative Party including the support of the then Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...

Outcome

Although there was no direct consequences, the Bills were a direct indication of increasing political pressure from

eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

Conservative MP’s which would lead to the then Prime Minister

to make a major party political speech on Europe in January 2013 in what would become known as the Bloomberg speech in which the Conservative Party would support the holding of a in-out referendum on continued EU membership by the end of 2017. This referendum would be duly held in June 2016 and saw the United Kingdom vote by a narrow majority to leave the European Union. The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020 with the European Communities Act 1972 being repealed by the

European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (c. 16) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom to repeal the European Communities Act 1972, and for parliamentary approval to be required for any withdrawal agreement negotiated between th ...

on the same day.

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom and the European Union 2012 in the European Union 2013 in the European Union Proposed laws of the United Kingdom 2012 in British politics 2013 in British politics Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom Brexit-related statutes

Criticism

Second Bill

Outcome

See also

References