I agree. Joining the EEC was presented purely as an economic arrangement then.
It was only a few mavericks such as Enoch Powell and Tony Benn who looked at the constitutional issues.
Public concern was much more about particular issues, common fishery policy, common agricultural policy,
VAT replacing purchase tax, overseas french juggernauts damaging UK roads, the ethics of abandoning
commonwealth countries such as New Zealand with their butter and lamb exports being behind a tariff wall.
Its a myth that we abandoned the Commonwealth though. During the entry negotiations we made considerable concessions to the EU, particularly on the budget contribution, to obtain 5 year quota for NZ agricultural products for example.