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Success and Next Steps to an EU referendum
Wednesday, 27 March, 2013 16:14
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"The People's Pledge" <mail>
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Success and Next Steps towards an EU Referendum

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Success and Next Steps towards
an EU Referendum

The People's Pledge celebrates its 2nd birthday this month, having made dramatic progress in our campaign for an EU referendum.

Now that the Prime Minister has switched his party's policy to support an in-out EU vote, where next for the People's Pledge campaign?
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The People's Pledge has had a spectacular 18 months.

As I'm sure you'll remember, back in October 2011, the Prime Minister whipped his MPs to vote against an in-out EU referendum motion in Parliament.

By January this year, David Cameron had executed a remarkable turnaround.

In his recent speech on Britain�s relationship with the EU, he said: "When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice. To stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum�.

This welcome u-turn came after a busy year of ground-breaking campaigning by the People�s Pledge.

During 2012, the results of our three local referendums in the marginal constituencies of Thurrock, Cheadle and Hazel Grove generated regular media coverage about an EU referendum and huge growth in support for our campaign from the public and MPs.

Going to the heart of political power by giving a credible voice to - and signing up - tens of thousands of voters in marginal constituencies has made it impossible for David Cameron to ignore public support for an EU referendum.

When the Prime Minister echoes your aim, this is undoubtedly a big campaign success. But it's still very far from certain that an EU referendum will happen.

David Cameron�s pledge is to hold a referendum after the next election. But the result of the recent Eastleigh by-election shows that he may well not be in office after 2015 to deliver it.

Mr Cameron also gave no guarantee that his referendum pledge will still be delivered in the (very likely) event that he cannot negotiate a meaningful 'new settlement' between the EU's institutions and Westminster.

So while the PM�s words are a big step forward, the People's Pledge will not have achieved its objective until Labour, the Liberal Democrats, and other parties too, pledge in their next election manifestos to let the people decide about our EU membership.

Above all, our mission will not be achieved until a majority of MPs and candidates of all parties pledge their personal support for an EU referendum - and vote for one after the 2015 election.

Future action

The next stage of our campaign will be fought on four fronts:

1) Increase Pledge numbers: Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg will only think twice - just as David Cameron has - about their opposition to an EU referendum if we show that huge numbers of people support one and will use their vote to achieve it. Especially if those numbers are high in the marginal constituencies Labour and the Lib Dems hope to gain, or hold on to, at the next general election.

2) Push for EU referendum legislation: All three of the major political parties have gone back on several previous EU referendum promises. To convince that this latest EU referendum promise is sincere, the Prime Minister must introduce legislation this side of the general election providing for an EU vote within the lifetime of the next parliament - and challenge anti-referendum MPs to vote against it.

3) Sign up more MPs and candidates: we will continue to invite sitting Conservative MPs to sign up individually to the People's Pledge now that their party's policy has changed and - working with our supporters within Labour, Liberal Democrats and other parties - work to persuade more MPs from these parties to do the same. Crucially, we will begin to expand our constituency listings to include the views of rival candidates to sitting MPs, illustrating to voters who support an EU referendum the choices they will face at the next election.

4) Campaign in more marginal constituencies: Now is the time to press home our advantage by taking action in more of the constituencies where the next general election will be decided. We are drawing up a list of 50 marginal seats to be the target of a new programme of highly focussed grassroots campaigning. This will aim to inform voters where their MPs and candidates stand and explain why it's so important that they use their vote to secure an EU referendum.

The People's Pledge has come a long way since launch in March 2011. It's your support that has brought the campaign for an EU referendum this far. Your help will be crucial, too, for success on each of these new campaign fronts. So we will write again shortly with more information about how you can get involved and, together, we can finish the job!

Read more
Latest on the PP blog: Renegotiation and an EU referendum. Can David Cameron fundamentally renegotiate Britain's membership of the EU and what does that mean for the referendum he recently promised? We set out some of the challenges the Prime Minister faces to just provoke a negotiation - nevermind secure the agreement of the EU's 26 other member countries to his demands.

Sharing this article via Twitter, Facebook, email and other online networks is a huge help towards achieving greater awareness about our EU referendum campaign and gaining new supporters. Please help if you can.