In accordance with the party whip, Jenkins voted against European Communities Bill 55 times.Campbell, Roy Jenkins: A Well-Rounded Life, p. 384. However, he resigned both the deputy leadership and his shadow cabinet position in April 1972, after the party committed itself to holding a referendum on Britain's membership of the EEC. This led to some former admirers, including Roy Hattersley, choosing to distance themselves from Jenkins. Hattersley later claimed that Jenkins' resignation was "the moment when the old Labour coalition began to collapse and the eventual formation of a new centre party became inevitable".Roy Hattersley, Who Goes Home? Scenes From A Political Life (London: Little, Brown, 1995), p. 109. In his resignation letter to Wilson, Jenkins said that if there were a referendum "the Opposition would form a temporary coalition of those who, whatever their political views, were against the proposed action. By this means we would have forged a more powerful continuing weapon against progressive legislation than anything we have known in this country since the curbing of the absolute powers of the old House of Lords".'Jenkins letter warns Mr Wilson of danger of referendum principle as weapon against progressive legislation', The Times (11 April 1972), p. 11.
