The backbench Tory plot to get a referendum bill into the Commons – and the row that will surely follow

John Baron and  Conservative backbench colleagues have been out and about insisting that today’s results underline the need for legislation in this parliament for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU after 2015. But Tories and Lib Dems in Number 10 were clear yesterday that this can’t come as a government bill because of the realities of Coalition. But there will be a bill that comes forward. And it looks like it will cause its own almighty row.

Those around the Prime Minister have been dropping pretty hefty hints to Tory MPs that though there won’t be a government-sponsored bill, if there is ‘any other way’ of bringing legislation before the Commons, they would be sympathetic. There are two routes by which this can happen.

The first is the private member’s bill ballot, which is what Baron is now aiming for.