Reading: the UK and the EU
Intermediate to lower advanced level (B1-C1)

Before we look at the situation now, here is some history. Britain joined the European Economic Community (now the EU) in 1973.
However in June 1975, after a renegotiation of EEC membership, the new UK government held a referendum on whether the UK should stay in or leave. This was the first nationwide referendum in UK history. 67% of the people who voted wanted to stay in the EEC.

At the time of the 1975 referendum the issues were mainly economic and almost all the newspapers and the government supported staying in. Some people say the debate was not properly balanced and the ‘no’ campaign didn’t have enough opportunity to communicate its message. If that is true, it probably means that the vote should have been closer. Since the referendum there have always been people who have campaigned for the UK to leave the EU.

In recent years the Euro crisis, immigration and European legislation has generated a lot of criticism of the EU in the British media. Also the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has been gaining more support. The main issues are probably whether the UK benefits economically from the EU and immigration. Another issue is the UK’s control over its laws and regulations.

Today the Prime Minister, David Cameron, is offering a new referendum if he wins the national elections in 2015. In fact David Cameron is personally in favour of the EU but is under pressure because his party may lose votes to UKIP (UKIP wants the UK to leave the EU). Cameron’s choice seems to be: offer a referendum and possibly win the next election or not offer a referendum and lose the chance of being Prime Minister again.

At the moment opinion polls show that approximately 40% to 45% of voters would like the UK to leave the EU with 35% to 40% wanting to stay in and about 20% unsure how to vote. This means that a vote could be quite close but it is likely that voters will not vote to leave the EU. Also more people may decide they want to stay in if Cameron manages to win a few changes to the UK’s membership of the EU.

Key vocabulary

situation (n)
renegotiation ((n)
membership (n)
referendum (n) – a national vote on a single question
support (v and n)
debate (v and n)
opportunity (n)
message (n and v)
campaign (n and v)
crisis (n)
legislation (n)
generate (v)
media (n)
issue (n)
benefit (n and v)
economically (adv)
be in favour of something
be under pressure
control (v and n)
election (n)
be unsure