Clegg stands firm on EU referendum

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1 July 2013

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has insisted that he will not shift from the position that an in/out referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union should not be held unless there are proposals for a transfer of powers from Westminster to Brussels.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the Lib Dems would always be "the party of 'in'" in any referendum battle, while his Conservative coalition partners increasingly look like "the party of 'out'".

A senior aide confirmed later that the position set out by Mr Clegg will be in the Lib Dem manifesto for the 2015 general election. But Mr Clegg declined to say whether Europe would be a "red line" in any negotiations over the formation of a coalition if the election fails to deliver a clear-cut result.

Lib Dem and Labour MPs are set to abstain on a Conservative backbench bill in the Commons on Friday, which would require a referendum by the end of 2017, whether or not any change in Britain's relations with Brussels is on the table.

Prime Minister David Cameron has imposed a three-line whip on Tory MPs to back James Wharton's bill, and has urged Lib Dems to "get off the fence" and turn up to vote one way or the other on Friday.

But Mr Clegg said his party would not "waste any of our time helping the Conservatives indulge in their own internal feuds" as he insisted his party had been consistent on the issue while Mr Cameron "swerved around enormously". He dismissed Mr Cameron's "ill-defined process of so-called renegotiation", accusing him of plucking the 2017 date out of thin air.

Speaking of the existing referendum "lock", he said: "We did that with the Conservatives who, at the time, strongly advocated that that was the best approach. And I can confirm today that when that trigger is set off by a new treaty, we remain of the view - a view we have had for years - that the question on the ballot paper should be an in/out question.

"The Liberal Democrats have been consistent throughout. The Conservatives have changed. They now want to pluck a slightly arbitrary date in the diary out of thin air to have a referendum on a very ill-defined process of so-called renegotiation."

Mr Wharton's private member's bill will face its first Commons test on Friday, with Tory MPs - including Mr Cameron - set to turn out in force to support him on a day of the week when Westminster is usually almost deserted as MPs work in their constituencies.

Mr Cameron told reporters accompanying him on a visit to Central Asia: "I will be there. I think this is a serious effort by the Government ... sorry, the Conservative part of the coalition, to get behind this Bill and I think that if, as I gather, Labour are not engaging in this, then there is every prospect of it passing into law. And we will do everything we can to back it. In the end, people have to get off the fence and say what they think about it. I totally support it. It is my policy written into law. And I would say to all MPs, turn up and vote."

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