When David Cameron wielded his veto at the European Council in December many Tories thought this was the beginning of a process of repatriation of powers from the EU. Myself, I thought it would be the high water mark of the government’s Euro-scepticism — and so it has proven. But things are about to get even worse for the Bill Cashes of this Parliament. In the short-term, at least.
But that won't be the end of the issue, of course. A failure to secure repatriation in this Parliament will probably cause Tory eurosceptics to push for a manifesto commitment on the same — or perhaps even for some sort of referendum. And then, were the Tories to win a majority at the next election, the eurosceptic pressure would be too great for Cameron to ignore.