Will there be referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the EU?
This is the issue that won’t go away. It’s said that Ed Miliband might promise such a vote while having one has been Lib Dem policy in the past.
In the meantime pro-referendum campaigners are holding postal ballots in various parts of the country on whether there should be a referendum.
The assumption, backed up by polling, is that such an in/out referendum would inevitably lead to a vote to withdraw.
- I’m not convinced. The experience of referendums in the UK is that when forced to make a choice people generally will opt for the status quo.
Last month only one of the ten cities voting on whether to have an elected mayor went for change. In another referendum, in Doncaster, voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to get rid of their elected mayor.
But before we get to that stage with the EU there has to be the political will to have such a vote and I am far from convinced that Cameron will agree.
So what do you think the chances are?