History

The Campaign for an Independent Britain (CIB) was formed in 1969 as a cross party coalition opposed to Common Market entry in 1973. It is an umbrella group supported by public donations with an elected executive of up to 14 members that has become recognised as the leading group of eurosceptic campaigners in the UK, being one of the few groups which has advocated withdrawal from what is now the European Union ever since the UK joined.

The founding organisations were the Labour Euro Safeguards Campaign, Conservatives Against a Federal Europe, Campaign Against European Federation (trade unions) and Get Britain Out.

Other organisations which have representatives on the CIB National Committee are The Freedom Association, the Bruges Group and the Anti-Common Market League. CIB co-operates with Save Our Sovereignty. CIB was instrumental in setting up TEAM which is the body to which Eurosceptic groups across the European Union belong.

CIB is non-party political, non racist and non sectarian. Its Constitution states that its objective is:

“to campaign for the restoration of full national sovereignty to the UK by its withdrawal from the obligations of the Treaties of European Union and the repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 as amended so that Parliament may legislate freely and the UK may co-operate with other nations as it thinks fit”

It is a “broad church” of political opinion but will not tolerate racists or extremists from either side of the political divide and rejects any organisation known to be motivated by anti democratic intentions.

A major battle took place in the early 1970s within Parliament to keep the supremacy of our own Parliament and remain out of the Common Market. The battle was narrowly lost by 8 votes in favour of Edward Heath taking the UK into the Common Market even before the terms and conditions were revealed to MPs let alone the British public being asked whether or not they wanted to join.

CIB was also at the forefront of the campaign for a NO vote in the 1975 referendum called to ratify the changes to the terms of UK membership negotiated by Harold Wilson.

It prominently campaigned during the general election of 1983 in which the Labour party manifesto promised, if elected, to withdraw from the EC in the lifetime of that Parliament. The Labour party lost but two Labour party candidates Tony Blair and Gordon Brown won their seats for the first time under that manifesto. Tony Blair’s election address to his Sedgefield constituents read "We’ll negotiate a withdrawal from the EEC which has drained our natural resources and destroyed jobs."

CIB was in the forefront of the campaign to keep the £ and pressure within the Conservative Party led to John Major famously obtaining an opt out to keep Britain out of the now discredited Euro. It’s £ lapel badge was and still is worn by many prominent people.

CIB publicises the advantages of a better future outside of the restrictive EU with Britain free to further its own trading links with the rest of the world, in particular with Commonwealth countries and English speaking nations.

Over many years CIB has printed and widely distributing free of charge factual leaflets on many subjects, such as agriculture, fishing, NHS funding, Post Office closures etc and now produces a free bi-monthly news sheet Free Britain which has an extensive circulation.

In November 2010 CIB produced a booklet A House Divided which asked whether Parliament can serve two masters - the Nation and the European Union. It was introduced by Phillip Hollobone MP with foreword by Lord Stoddard of Swindon and contained a brief history of the EU from its inception as the European Coal and Steel Community to the present European Union. It tells of the lies and deceits perpetrated in order to gain public support, the loss of parliamentary sovereignty which has taken place and was delivered to every single member of the House of Commons and House of Lords so that the members were fully aware of the powers that they have lost.

Further information is available from the British Library of Political and Economic Science, 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD where 13 archive boxes are stored and can be examined with contents which include correspondence and National Committee minutes up to the end of 2007.