Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom

Euroscepticism, i.e. the opposition to policies of supranational European Union institutions and/or opposition to Britain's membership of the European Union, has been a significant element in the politics of the United Kingdom (UK). A Eurobarometer survey of EU citizens in 2009 showed that support for membership of the EU was lowest in the United Kingdom, alongside Latvia and Hungary.

Levels of support for the EU have historically been lower in the UK than most other member states. UK citizens are the least likely to feel a sense of European identity, and national sovereignty is also seen as more important to British people than that of people from other EU nations.

The United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum was held in 1975, resulting in majority support for Britain's membership of the European Communities (also known as the Common Market, which later evolved into the present European Union). Another membership referendum was held in 2016, with a 51.9% majority for Britain leaving the European Union.

The European Unity movement as a political project after 1945 was supported and inspired by important British voices. For example, Winston Churchill pledged in his 1946 Zurich speech for "a kind of United States of Europe" led by France and Germany but did not intend to involve Britain. The ambivalent position of British politics and citizens has been described as "wishing to seem an important part of Europe without being a part of it". The othering of European Unity as a Continental issue and somebody else's problem has been rather strong. Pro-European British politicians and citizens have faced various defeats and humiliations with regard to Britain's steps in the direction of increased European integration. Even parties like the Liberal Democrats with an outspoken pro-European platform, have members that share the British lack of enthusiasms "of all things European". After joining the EU, confrontational attitudes of British politicians, as in the UK rebate controversy, gained further popularity among the British public, and many Britons feel a much stronger affection for the Commonwealth of Nations than they ever have for the EU.

...
Wikipedia