The word coming out of Committee Room 14 is that David Cameron has just told his MPs that his party’s manifesto will not contain a commitment to a referendum on whatever repatriation package that the Tories manage to negotiate once in government. The most that he said was that if a Tory government was unsatisfied with what it managed to get back, then there might be a commitment to a referendum in the 2014 / 2015 manifesto.
Set against this was a promise to put everything that comes from Europe from now on through a new sovereignty act that would require a referendum on any further ceding of powers to Europe. Cameron apparently received loud applause when he told his MPs that never again would a treaty pass into law without a vote.
It looks for now like this will be enough to keep most of the party on side. There will, though, be disgruntlement that there is no new referendum pledge. Several Euro-sceptic shadow Cabinet members that I had spoken to before today thought that it was important that the results of any renegotiation be put to a vote.
Comments