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|year=1972
|introduced_by= [[Geoffrey Rippon]]<br/>[[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]<br/><br />[[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone]]<br/>[[Lord Chancellor]]
|territorial_extent=United Kingdom<br />(England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland)<br /><br />[[Isle of Man|The Isle of Man]]<br />[[Jersey|The Bailiwick of Jersey]]<br />[[Bailiwick of Guernsey|The Bailiwick of Guernsey]]<br />[[Gibraltar]]<br />(by implication of the wording of long title and Sections 2(6) and 4(4))
|royal_assent N/A
|commencement=17 October 1972<br />(partly in force)<br />1 January 1973<br />(wholly in force)
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When the [[European Communities]] (EC) came into being in 1958, the UK chose to remain aloof and instead join the alternative bloc, [[EFTA]]. Almost immediately the British government regretted its decision, and in 1961, along with Denmark, Ireland and Norway, the UK applied to join the three Communities. However, President [[Charles de Gaulle]] saw British membership as a [[Trojan horse]] for US influence, and vetoed it; all four applications were suspended. The four countries resubmitted their applications in 1967, and the French veto was lifted upon [[Georges Pompidou]] succeeding de Gaulle in 1969.<ref>De Gaulle died in 1970.</ref> In 1970, accession negotiations took place between the [[HM Government|UK Government]], led by [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Prime Minister]] [[Edward Heath]], the [[European Communities]] and various European leaders. Despite disagreements over the [[Common Agricultural Policy|CAP]] and the UK's relationship with the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]], terms were agreed. In October 1971, after a lengthy [[House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Commons]] debate, MPs voted 356-244 in favour of joining the EEC.
For the Treaty to take effect upon entry into the Communities on 1 January 1973, and for the UK to embrace the EEC Institutions and [[European Community law|Community law]], an Act of Parliament was required. Only three days after the signing of the Treaty, a European Communities Bill of just 12 clauses<ref>The 12-clause Bill was criticised by some in the opposition, who had demanded a one-thousand-clause Bill that would be much harder to amend.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}}</ref> was presented to the House of Commons by [[Geoffrey Rippon]]. The European Communities Act came into being, and Edward Heath signed the [[Treaty of Accession 1972|Treaty of Accession]] in [[Brussels]] on 22 January 1972. Denmark and Ireland also [[Enlargement of the European Union#First enlargement|joined the Community]] on the same day, 1 January 1973, as the UK; the Norwegian people had [[Norway and the European Union|rejected membership]] in a [[1972 Norwegian European Communities membership referendum
===First Reading (House of Commons)===
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