ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the debates within the UK over joining the EEC in 1973, the effect of the various EEC/EU treaties on the UK's unwritten constitution, the Euroscepticism of both the Conservative and the Labour parties that constantly dogged the UK's membership, the rise of anti-EU parties, the 2016 Brexit referendum and the resulting Brexit deal, together with the Supreme Court litigation which that deal provoked. It also considers how EU matters were judicially reviewed in UK courts, how EU affairs were scrutinised by the national Parliament, and what role the legislatures and governments of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland played in the implementation of EU law. The chapter's conclusion is that the political and economic story of the UK's membership of the EEC/EU is predominantly one of suspicion, doubt, and reluctance on the UK's part. Constitutionally speaking, however, the experience was one which demonstrated the malleability of the nation's unwritten constitution.
