Conservative MP’s Support EU Referendum Plan

Conservative MPs have rallied behind a bill promising an EU referendum in the face of Labour attempts to derail it.

Yesterday in the House of Commons, legislation urging a referendum by 2017 was discussed for five hours but no major votes were held and the debate was adjourned until later this month, but the sponsor of the bill, Conservative MP James Wharton, said it had made “reasonable progress”.

The first in three days of detailed debate on Mr Wharton’s bill concluded with Conservatives and Labour arguing over parliamentary tactics.  In an effort to slow its progress, Labour MPs raised a host of related issues at length, including whether residents of Gibraltar and prisoners should be able to vote in a future referendum.

Mr Cameron’s referendum pledge, following a renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with Brussels, cannot be made law in the form of a coalition government bill because of Lib Dem opposition.

Conservative backbencher Mr Wharton agreed to propose the legislation after he came top in a ballot of MPs private members’ bill and many Tories pushed for the referendum commitment to be made binding before the 2015 general election.  The bill has now reached its “report stage”, where amendments can be discussed in detail.  More than 50 amendments have been tabled, including 36 alone by Labour’s Mike Gapes.

Mr Gapes, who spoke for about an hour, defended his approach, saying the bill as it stood was “inadequate” and required “more proper consideration”.  His colleague Barry Sheerman said it was “furtive and unseemly” to have such an important constitutional matter considered via a private member’s bill rather than through government legislation.

Mr Wharton told the BBC’s Daily Politics his bill was making “reasonable progress” but acknowledged it was “going to be slow going”.  He said Labour and Lib Dem opponents wanted to delay the bill so it ran out of parliamentary time, adding, “We are going to do everything we can to stop that from happening.”

Private members’ bills normally have little chance of becoming law due to lack of parliamentary time, unless they are backed by the government.  But Mr Wharton’s bill is being treated differently because David Cameron wants it to become law, to send a signal to his MPs and the public that he is serious about his commitment to hold a referendum.

If the bill makes it through the Commons, it will go to the Lords for further discussion in the next few months.