IoS exclusive: Cameron hit by big rise in hostility to Europe

[dipsydoodle]

Almost one in three people who voted Conservative at the last election are ready to back the UK Independence Party, or have switched already, according to a devastating new opinion poll revealing the danger posed to David Cameron by a growing anti-Europe sentiment across Britain.

Ten per cent of 2010's Tory voters say they have already decided to back Ukip, while 26 per cent of those who still support the Conservatives are "seriously considering" switching to support the Eurosceptic fringe party. Nigel Farage, its leader, has sought to capitalise on the economic crisis gripping the eurozone.

Forty-six per cent of people polled say they would vote for Britain to leave the European Union, with just 30 per cent saying they want to continue membership. If the 23 per cent who responded "don't know" were removed, such a referendum would see Britain leave the EU on a 3:2 split.

The results will heap pressure on Mr Cameron, who faces demands from his backbenchers and ministers for a referendum on continued membership in the next Tory manifesto. But a more strident anti-European stance will do little to improve the Prime Minister's international standing. Yesterday, he joined world leaders for talks at Camp David, where efforts were being made at the G8 to encourage growth as well as austerity.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/ios-exclusive-cameron-hit-by-big-rise-in-hostility-to-europe-7768850.html

Ed Miliband set for decision on Europe referendum.

Ed Miliband is being urged by a growing number of shadow cabinet members and senior allies to promise a dramatic in-out referendum on Britain's future membership of the European Union if Labour wins the next general election.

Several figures in the party are pushing the Labour leader to make the pledge well before the next European elections in 2014 to outmanoeuvre David Cameron, who is under heavy pressure to commit the Tory party to a national vote on the issue. The Observer has been told that, after discussions with shadow cabinet members, Miliband is leaving the door open to a referendum – although he is keen to stress that the short-term focus and discussion must be on how to end the current euro crisis.

Allies of the Labour leader say pressure on him to make what would be a historic, high-risk pledge will increase following the appointment of Jon Cruddas, the MP for Dagenham and Rainham, as Labour's policy chief.

Cruddas, a long-time opponent of the euro but otherwise pro-EU, is strongly in favour of an in-out referendum as a means of ending divisive arguments on Europe once and for all. Before his appointment, Cruddas told the People's Pledge campaign for a referendum that the issue was one of "democracy", and said a referendum pledge should be made "immediately, or as quickly as we can". Cruddas is understood to think that such a move would help define Miliband's leadership as bold and distinct from the New Labour years of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/20/ed-miliband-eu-membership-referendum

[T_i_B]

1. I can't help but feel....

....that it's a tad opportunistic of Labour to be promising an in/out referendum on the EU. It may cause consternation in the Tory ranks but I just can't see them actually carrying it out if they get back in office.

We've already had such a referendum in the 70's and I can't see the need to re-run it again. To be honest the whole debate on this issue is one I find exasperating, being dominated as it is by rabid fools such as Dan Hannan and Nigel Farage, with inconvenient issues such as the effect that withdrawing from the EU single market will have on UK trade being almost completely ignored.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. I think a Labour government might go through with it

An EU referendum would have the effect of tossing the hand grenade of 'Europe' into the ranks of the Tory Party, possibly damaging it greatly.

I doubt that the Tory leadership wants to leave the EU. So it would either have to slay its anti-European demons and thus face the wrath of the grassroots, or to tie itself to the 'No' tendency and face the wrath of its natural allies in the City.

[T_i_B]

3. I disagree

The EU is hugely unpopular, and if anything is becoming more unpopular thanks to the Eurozone crisis. If such a referendum came to pass it's difficult to see anything other then a thumping "no" vote which would greatly boost the right wing of the Tory party.

However, the Tories obsession with Europe could turn out to be quite off-putting to voters come the general election. Politicians who drone on about the EU above all else are not generally in a good position to persuade voters that they have solutions to issues with crime, healthcare, education and the state of the economy.