19.10.11
MPs to vote on call for EU referendum
Backbench MPs have agreed to hold a debate and vote on the proposition to hold a referendum on whether the UK stays in the EU. Conservative MP David Nuttall proposed the motion, which will be debated on October 27, concerning a referendum to be held in May 2013.
The motion proposed says: “This House calls upon the Government to introduce a bill in the next session of Parliament to provide for the holding of a national referendum on whether the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union, leave the European Union, or renegotiate the terms of its membership in order to create a new relationship based on trade and cooperation.”
Nuttall said: “I believe that a referendum along these lines would allow the public to make clear their views about our current membership of the European Union.
“It is 36 years since we last held a referendum and our relationship with what was then known as the Common Market and the European Union has changed out of all recognition.”
The Government would not be bound by the result of the vote, but would be under pressure from the public if it resulted in a change to our current membership.
Prime Minister David Cameron has previously refused calls for a straight ‘in or out’ referendum, as the coalition agreement commits the UK to being a ‘positive participant in the European Union’.
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