United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has a population of 61.63 million and an area of 244,000 km². It joined the EU on 1 January 1973 without holding a referendum.

After enlargement of the EU, the UK has 29 votes out of 345 in the Council and 72 seats out of 736 in the European Parliament.

From 1 November 2014 the Lisbon Treaty will increase the British share of the vote in the Council of Ministers from 8.4% today to 12.33%.

Notes

Harold Wilson's Labour government renegotiated membership conditions and held a referendum on continued membership in 1975.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher negotiated a British rebate in 1984.
Prime Minister John Major kept Britain outside the social protocol, which was annexed to the Treaty of Maastricht in 1991.
Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted the social protocol after "New Labour" gained power in 1997.
The UK Government was represented in the Convention on the Future of Europe by the former minister for Europe, Peter Hain.
In April 2004 Tony Blair accepted that the European Constitution shall be adopted in the EU by a referendum.
In 2007 Blair took away the promise of referendum and was succeeded by Gordon Brown
In 2008 a British businessman Stewart Wheeler started a court case against the government to obtain a referendum. He failed.
In the European elections in June 2009 the UKIP party for witdrawel of the EU gained the same number of seats as the governing Labour party.
The Conservative party leader, David Cameron, said he would call for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty if he would become the prime minister before the last ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
3 November 2009 Vaclav Klaus signed the Treaty as the last country. Cameron then said he would negotiate certain British opt-outs.
In July 2009 the British Conservatives iniatated a new EU critical group in the European Parliament called European Conservatives and Reformists, ECR.

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