Bureaucratic politics on Europe: inside Whitehall 1970 to 1972
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Bureaucratic politics on Europe: inside Whitehall 1970 to 1972 Geir K. Almlid1
© Springer Nature Limited 2019
Abstract From 1970 to 1972, Britain negotiated for membership of the European Community. The most challenging issue was contributions to the Community budgets—a controversial question also after accession, including in the Brexit debates. By combining a bureaucratic politics approach and the use of documents from The National Archives, the article discusses the motivations behind the government’s negotiation strategies on this issue. This reveals considerable civil service influence on political decisions, as well as significant differences within the Whitehall machinery. The Treasury, which wanted a tough negotiation approach, lost the bureaucratic bargaining games to the Cabinet Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. These departments, in cooperation with Prime Minister Edward Heath, drove through a conciliatory negotiating line in Brussels, which involved substantial economic concessions to achieve political gains. Keywords European Community · Treasury · Foreign and Commonwealth Office · Bureaucratic politics · Whitehall · European Union
Introduction Contributions to the European Union budget have for decades been a controversial issue in British politics (Spence 2012). It has often attracted negative press coverage and occupied much government time and attention (Gowland 2017). It was important in Wilson’s renegotiations in 1974, and in the 1980s Thatcher fought vigorously for a budget rebate. Also, in the debates leading up to the Brexit referendum it was a heated issue (Begg 2016). This article focuses on what laid the foundation for Britain’s budget contributions: the negotiations for membership of the European Community (EC) in 1970–1972.
* Geir K. Almlid [email protected] 1
Nord University, Bodø, Norway Vol.:(0123456789)
G. K. Almlid
In the British government’s opening statement of the negotiations, the budget contributions were described as the most vital issue (Hannay 2017). It was important to avoid too high contributions for the struggling British economy. But there was also a strong desire to join the Community based on expected economic and political benefits. By combining a bureaucratic politics approach and government archival sources, this article examines the making of the British negotiation strategies on the EC budget issue. It concludes that higher civil servants had crucial influence, and that there were power struggles within Whitehall. The Treasury argued for a tough approach, but the views of Prime Minister Edward Heath and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) prevailed. They accepted economic setbacks in the short term to achieve potential long-term economic growth and political gains.
Bureaucratic politics The article examines the departments and individuals that were most central in the British government’s negotiations on the EC budget. Prime Minister Heath is an obvious choice, as he was the dominant figure on the political side. Several Whiteha
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