British referendum on EU unlikely before 2020 if Labour wins power, says Ed Miliband
Opposition leader promises vote on membership only if more powers shift to Brussels, following Prime Minister David Cameron's pledge to hold poll by end of 2017
A future Labour government would hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) before 2020 only if more powers were transferred to Brussels, party leader Ed Miliband has revealed.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to try to reach a new settlement with the EU before holding a referendum by the end of 2017, provided he wins the election in May next year.
But Miliband’s calibrated referendum pledge means that if the opposition Labour wins power, or if it has to share power with the Liberal Democrats, there would be little prospect of a vote on Britain’s EU membership this decade.
“I am announcing that the next Labour government will legislate for a new lock – there would be no transfer of powers from the UK to the EU without a referendum on our continued membership of the EU,” Miliband wrote in the Financial Times.
“There are no current proposals – from either the EU or any member state – for a further transfer of powers from Britain,” he said. “It is unlikely there will be any such proposals in the next parliament.”
By offering the prospect of a distant referendum, Miliband is trying to weaken Cameron’s charge that Labour is afraid of giving British voters the chance to have their say on Europe.
