Eu referendum

In September 2012 Mr Steerpike revealed that 14 Tory MPs had signed letters to Graham Brady, the Chairman of the 1922 Committee, calling for a leadership challenge to David Cameron. Today, Adam Afriyie, the alleged leader-in-waiting (who has not written to Graham Brady), called a vote on his amendment to James Wharton’s EU Referendum Bill. The amendment is designed to bring forward the plebiscite to 2014, because it’s Afriyie’s belief that delaying the vote until 2017 will cost the Tories the next election. Mr Afriyie won just 15 votes. A coincidence? Probably not, but it’s certainly a telling sign of just how small the real anti-Cameron brigade is. Douglas Carswell, Nadine Dorries and Andrew Rossindell were among the dissenters. Guido

Ukip’s treasurer will be beaming this morning, thanks to Paul Sykes. The Yorkshire millionaire — whose wealth is estimated to be over £600 million — has, according to Philip Johnson in today’s Telegraph, promised to ‘do whatever it takes’ to ensure that the party tops the polls at the 2014 European elections. The Tories won’t be thrilled at the news; but Sykes is not a new problem, more of a recurring headache. He supported the Tories for many years; but left the party following the Maastrict Treaty, and campaigned instead for James Goldsmith. He rejoined the Tories in 2001 under William Hague before being expelled. Sykes donated £1.5 million to

MPs have just voted on the first set of amendments to James Wharton’s #LetBritainDecide bill. There is still a great deal more debate to be had in the Chamber, but based on this morning’s offering, it’s not worth clearing your diary for this report stage, unless you enjoy filibustering and mischievous use of obscure parliamentary procedure to delay a bill. This morning we had a geography lesson from Mike Gapes about the populations of each of the overseas territories, an account of the ‘grilling, gruelling’ debate that Martin Horwood enjoyed at a school in his constituency, and a debate about what it is that the people of Gibraltar take joy

In case you’ve been wondering what that strange feeling of tension in the air across the country is, the #LetBritainDecide bill returns to the Commons tomorrow for its report stage and third reading. There is, actually, rather a lot of valid tension – in as much as a backbench bill that will never become law can create valid tension – over the legislation this time around. The first reason is that Labour’s Mike Gapes has tabled a fantastic series of amendments to try to wreck the bill, which join his fantastic series of amendments that he tabled at committee stage. The second is that there are many more Tories planning

Oh dear. Poor old Adam Afriyie. Just over a week ago he was boasting of a ‘cross party’ campaign behind his amendment to James Wharton’s EU referendum bill. Now the updated list of signatures has been supported, and there hasn’t exactly been a stampede of support. Last week, the amendments said this: Adam Afryie Keith Vaz Clause 1, page 1, line 4, leave out ‘before 31 December 2017’ and insert ‘on 23 October 2014’. Adam Afryie Keith Vaz Clause 1, page 1, line 5, leave out subsection (3). And this week, the updated amendments look like this: Adam Afryie Clause 1, page 1, line 4, leave out ‘before 31 December 2017’

More than 140 of the 147 Tory MPs elected in 2010 have written to Adam Afriyie telling him to drop his amendment to the EU referendum bill. Given that Afriyie has previously suggested he’ll drop his attempt to bring the referendum forward to 2014 there is no support for it, it now seems doomed. This loyalist flexing of political muscle by the 2010 Tory intake will cheer Downing Street. It shows that the parliamentary party does, for the moment at least, want to stay united on Europe. It also indicates that a certain discipline is returning to Tory ranks as the next election approaches. Even six months ago, an amendment

Adam Afriyie’s sleepless nights are over. His amendments to the European Union (Referendum) Bill are now down and waiting hopefully for signatures. The MP claimed at the weekend that he had cross-party support for his call for an early referendum, but currently only two names – Afriyie’s and Keith Vaz – feature on the paper. Given the ambitious MP’s attempt to shake things up in the Conservative party didn’t have quite the desired effect, it will be interesting to see which MPs still think it worth signing these two amendments, which add 23 October 2014 as the referendum date to the legislation. The newly beefed-up whips office may not see

I shared the surprise of most Conservative colleagues when I read Adam Afriyie’s proposed amendment to the European Referendum Bill currently going through Parliament. I thought in recent months we had established something that has eluded my Party for most of the time of my membership – a unity and consensus on matters European. The Parliamentary Party overwhelmingly backs the Bill being brought forward by my good friend, the talented and warm James Wharton. That offering is simply: if the Conservative Party wins the 2015 election there will be an In/Out referendum by 2017.  David Cameron will get his chance to get powers back and the people will make their

Is it really worth getting excited about David Laws’ suggestion that the Lib Dems could put an In/Out referendum pledge in their 2015 manifesto? It’s not the first time, after all, and anyone who follows these things closely will know that below the excited headlines, there is always a more complex reality. When you burrow into what Laws is really proposing, you realise that it could prove a thorny issue in coalition negotiations in 2015 as it contrasts sharply with David Cameron’s own pledge. Speaking at the start of the Lib Dems’ Glasgow conference, Laws effectively recommitted the party to its 2010 promise, saying they would back an In/Out referendum

Since I was elected to Parliament in 2010, I have taken every opportunity to push back against the EU’s move towards ever closer union. I have also been a long-time supporter of offering the people a say on our membership of the EU and was delighted when the Prime Minister led the way in pledging to hold that referendum after renegotiation before 2017. I am proud to be a member of the only party offering that choice. Now that the Prime Minister has taken the bold step of pledging a referendum, he must be no less ambitious in the renegotiation he seeks. When we talk about our membership of the

The much-ballyhooed Balance of Competences Review has just published its first set of reports and the lines have already been drawn between the In-at-all-costs camp and the Out-no-matter-whats. The former, jubilant at conclusions drawn by civil servants that EU competences across a number areas are just right, see fit to run around shouting ‘I told you so’ from the rafters. More hardened sceptics wearily remind them of their conviction from the outset that this was always going to be a technocratic sham of an exercise. The reports are of course crowd-sourced, a collation of evidence. The conclusions, less so. One such conclusion counters the submissions criticising European red tape by

As a rule, public bill committees aren’t really the kind of thing even the most insular Westminster bubble inhabitant buys popcorn to watch. But last night, James Wharton’s private member’s bill found itself the subject of midnight drama in the committee room. Labour MPs decided to filibuster on a series of troublemaking amendments, with the whips calling a late night cooling down break in an attempt to move the proceedings on. Even though Wharton and Tory colleagues on the bill committee may be rather dozy this afternoon, the late night drama, eventually resolved at 12.30, does allow them to make a political point out of what is normally a very

If you’ve felt your heart beating a little faster than usual, and a strange sense of excitement creeping all over you, it’s because #letbritaindecide fever is back in Parliament. Yes, folks, the fun returns, and this time for the committee stage of the bill, from 2pm today. I’ve already reported Mike Gapes’ amusing amendments to the legislation which are designed to cause trouble. He has put a few more down of a similarly mischevious ilk, changing the question about Britain’s membership of the EU to a question about whether Britain should join the Schengen Agreement, or the euro. But Labour’s frontbench has also tabled some changes to provoke a row.

The Conservatives are a happy bunch at the moment. But for how much longer? They might be riding on the crest of a wave after the second reading of James Wharton’s Private Member’s Bill for an EU referendum. But already forces are at work to disrupt the happy harmony. Labour MP Mike Gapes has this week tabled a rather amusing series of amendments to the legislation which are almost certainly an attempt to sow division in the Tory ranks. They call for: – A referendum on the terms of Britain’s membership of the EU rather than just on whether Britain should be a member. – A referendum on a date

James Wharton’s Private Member’s Bill has passed its second reading in the House of Commons by 304 votes to 0. The Labour Party’s decision to abstain on the vote, and Conservative backbenchers’ insistence that a vote be held does make the chamber look rather North Korean this afternoon. But what have we learned from just under five hours of debate? Tory HQ’s answer would be five neat points, all entitled ‘Only the Tories will Let Britain Decide’. In reality, the result of the debate wasn’t very interesting (aside from which Labour MPs backed the bill, on which more shortly), but there are still some useful lessons from the debate itself