Tories bow to pressure on EU referendum

London: Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party bowed to pressure from eurosceptic lawmakers on Tuesday and published a bill enshrining in law a promise to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU).

The unexpected move, which Cameron had been resisting for months, came the day before at least 67 Conservative MPs were expected to vote for a parliamentary motion condemning the coalition government’s European policy.

The announcement also came just hours after Cameron, on a trip to Washington, secured the public support of US President Barack Obama for his plan to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership with Brussels before putting it to a national vote by 2017.

The Conservatives’ bill would enshrine into law the prime minister’s promise to hold a referendum, which is contingent on the party winning re-election in 2015.

But it is a highly unusual move because it has been published by the party, not the coalition government, and will rely on an individual Tory member of parliament guiding it through parliament.

Opposition from ally

Foreign Secretary William Hague, the most senior eurosceptic Tory, acknowledged the bill had almost no chance of becoming law because of opposition from the Liberal Democrats, the pro-European party which shares power in the Tory-led coalition.

“But it means there can be a debate in the House of Commons on our policy, it means there can be a vote in the House of Commons,” Hague told BBC radio.

“When all the dust settles on the speculation about this, one thing will be very clear... the Conservative Party is very much behind and committed to this policy.”

Cameron has been under intense pressure over his European policy in recent months, fuelled by the growth of the upstart UK Independence Party (UKIP) which is poaching Tory voters with its demands to pull Britain out of the EU.

The prime minister says he wants Britain to stay in the bloc but only in a reformed EU, a position backed by Obama on Monday in an unusual intervention in British politics by a US president.

“David’s basic point that you probably want to see if you can fix what’s broken in a very important relationship before you break it off makes some sense to me,” Obama said after talks with Cameron.

Demand for exit

However, calls for Britain to quit the 27-nation bloc are growing, and two Conservative cabinet ministers said this weekend they would vote to exit the EU if a referendum were held now.

On Wednesday, at least 67 Tory MPs are expected to vote for a parliamentary motion condemning the government for failing to include legislation on an EU referendum in its programme for the coming year.