european video house of commons2

A bill paving the way for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU has survived its first vote in the Commons.

On 5 July 2013, 304 MPs voted (with no opposing votes) to allow the European Union (Referendum) Bill to progress to committee stage.

The House was packed, particularly on the Conservative benches, as members came to see Conservative MP James Whartonintroduce the private member’s bill he said was designed to “give the British public a real say”.

He continued: “Those who voted ‘yes’ in 1975 believed they had bought a ticket to a clear and certain destination, to a free trade area that would benefit Britain’s economy without undermining our sovereignty.

“They did not buy a ticket for a never-ending journey to ever-closer union, destination unknown.”

Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander claimed the bill was an irrelevance.

He said: “Instead of trying to get his backbenchers back in line, the prime minister should be spending his time getting the country back on track.”

But Foreign Secretary William Hague upbraided Labour for not making clear which way they would vote. “Rarely in this House has a speech accusing others of causing uncertainty been so totally shrouded in uncertainty itself,” he said.

“The EU now lacks democratic legitimacy because so many of those most enthusiastic about ever-closer union have been afraid of asking what people might think of it.”

Mr Hague said it was “the right bill, at the right time” to put the matter to a popular vote.

The first backbench Labour speech was from John Denham, who argued: “This is a bill about the private problems and the private political difficulties of the Conservative Party.”

He was followed by Conservative MP Sir Richard Shepherd, one of the Maastricht rebels in 1993-4, who said the EU “is now an authority greater than that of this chamber because of the cravenness of a generation of British politicians that did not think they could govern their own land”.

Lib Dem Martin Horwood said that, in the event of a referendum, “the prime minister obviously is not really willing to risk millions of British jobs by voting no. This is a delaying tactic to get us past the next election.”

Later, a closure motion – bringing the debate to an end – was passed before the division in which 304 MPs approved the bill at second reading.

The private member’s bill, which paves the way for a post-2015 referendum on Britain’s EU membership, has support from the Conservative front- and backbenches.

It was an idea floated by the prime minister after MPs in his own party criticised the absence of plans for a referendum in the Queen’s Speech. Further weight was lent to the eurosceptics’ position by Ukip’s strong performance in April’s local elections.

Conservative backbencher James Wharton conformed to widespread expectations when he introduced proposals for a referendum after he came top of the private members’ bill ballot.