Aubrey Geoffrey Frederick Rippon, Baron Rippon of Hexham, PC, QC was a British Conservative Party politician. He is most known for drafting the European Communities Act 1972 which took the United Kingdom into the European Communities on 1 January 1973. He was Chairman of the European-Atlantic Group.
Rippon in 1970
European Communities Act 1972 (UK)
The European Communities Act 1972, also known as the ECA 1972, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made legal provision for the accession of the United Kingdom as a member state to the three European Communities (EC) – the European Economic Community, European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the European Coal and Steel Community ; the EEC and ECSC subsequently became the European Union.
The Act was the most significant constitutional piece of legislation to be passed by the Heath government of 1970–1974[citation needed]
Geoffrey Rippon was responsible for drafting the 1972 legislation that took the UK into the then European Communities (which would later become the European Union)