ABSTRACT
It may seem odd to followers of the present debate on the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Community that the issue which occupied most of the time and energy of politicians, officials and the media during Britain's first negotiations for membership was not the one which has become central since British accession. It was not the potential loss of parliamentary sovereignty and independence of national policy, but rather the effort to preserve the United Kingdom's political and economic links with the Commonwealth, and through those links its continuing influence in the world. The commercial links with the Commonwealth, sustained by preferential trade arrangements, having survived the free trade area negotiations, were, with the closely related problems of domestic agriculture, the heart of the matter, the most difficult problem that was faced in the United Kingdom's effort to gain membership.
