Pressure has been building all weekend for the Prime Minister to give some form of concession to his eurosceptic backbenchers in his statement on the outcome of the Brussels summit. James blogged shortly before David Cameron stood up in the Commons that Tory MPs were being reassured that they were going to like what they would hear him, which a pro-European MP suspected would be ‘feeding a beast with an insatiable appetite’.
This is the meat the Prime Minister threw to the eurosceptics:
‘Far from ruling out a referendum for the future, as a fresh deal in Europe becomes clear, we should consider how best to get the fresh consent of the British people.’
He elaborated on this, telling Andrea Leadsom that the changes in the eurozone represented an ‘opportunity to build the sort of settlement we want’, and referring to ‘what I would call a fresh deal and a fresh settlement in Europe’.
This will make mildly tasty fare for some of the 100 MPs who signed the letter on Thursday that brought all of this to a head, and it fits former Defence Secretary Liam Fox’s demands for a renegotiation that would be followed by a referendum. Many feel that the changes proposed in the euro area present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Britain to renegotiate its place in Europe. But it didn’t please everyone, including, sadly, Mrs Bone, whose demands, care of her husband Peter, for referendum legislation in this Parliament were turned down. Mark Pritchard, who accused the Prime Minister over the weekend of a ‘jam tomorrow’ attitude towards his party and the EU, called for a referendum now. He called for a ‘referendum in this Parliament, an in or out referendum rather than relying on the outcome of the next election’.
The Prime Minister’s responses to this and other MPs who pushed him to go further was polite. He made repeated references to how he ‘understands’ the arguments of those backbenchers, but then repeated his argument that now is not the time for a referendum for the reasons already set out. There was no mention of fruitcakes (his insult for UKIP members) or a suggestion that anyone might be ‘banging on about Europe’. He is aware of the danger of offending over 100 MPs (and, as I blogged earlier, five PPSs) by dismissing their demands offhandedly. But being polite won’t be enough to keep the rebels silent: this row is going to rumble on.
Comments