Introduction: the British Left and European integration

The focus of this book is the historical and contemporary division of the British Left in relation to the post-war process of European economic and political integration, henceforth referred to as the European project or the European Union (EU) rather than its previous titles of Common market, European Economic Community (EEC) or European Community (EC). The main objectives of the book are to document analyse and theorize the European policies of the British Left from 1945 to 2005; from the launch of the European project to the recent debates on the euro and the European Constitution.