EU poll pledge rewards Cameron

A ComRes poll yesterday put the Conservatives up five points compared with the middle of last month and cut Labour’s lead to six points, a finding mirrored by a YouGov survey.

But Mr Cameron’s decision to call for a renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe after the next election, followed by a referendum, provoked renewed criticism from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg yesterday.

The Sheffield Hallam MP said: “My priority will always remain a simple objective of building a stronger economy in a fairer society, enabling everybody to get on in life.

“And I think that job is made more difficult if you have years and years of tying yourself up in knots having arcane debates about the precise terms of the membership of the European Union before we get to a referendum.

“It is not in the national interest when we have this fragile recovery, when we have a very open economy which is very dependent on investors in the car industry and the banking system and so on.

“You must always, when you are trying to piece together a recovery, foster those precarious conditions of greater confidence in the economy, you mustn’t do anything to make that more difficult.”

Mr Cameron also came under fresh attack from former Prime Minister Tony Blair who had last week likened his successor’s negotiating position to a scene from the film Blazing Saddles when the sheriff holds a gun to his head and threatens: “If you don’t do what I want I’ll blow my brains out.”

Mr Blair yesterday called for the “sensible, solid majority” to start campaigning for a yes vote, arguing that Britain leaving the EU would be an “extraordinary denial of its own interests”.

“We don’t know what the rest of Europe will decide. The referendum won’t happen for four or five years. The only certain thing is the uncertainty.

“That is why Ukip is rejoicing and it really doesn’t matter what David Cameron comes back with by way of a deal. It will never be enough for them,” he said.

The weekend polls suggest the UK Independence Party has been the main loser from Mr Cameron’s speech, with both ComRes and YouGov putting its support down four points.

But Ukip leader Nigel Farage instead chose to train his fire on Labour’s Ed Miliband who stood by his decision not to promise a referendum and insisted the Prime Minister was simply concerned with securing support from his own backbenchers.

Ahead of an expected advertising campaign, Mr Farage said: “As a party, we not only see this as a political failure on Labour’s part, but a betrayal. Miliband has exposed an open flank. We are going for the Labour Party’s jugular.”

He also took a swipe at the Lib Dem leader, questioning Mr Clegg’s claim a referendum is not in the national interest. “The only interest that Nick Clegg cares about is his own party, sectional interest and he knows that he has no interest in letting people have their say. Which is odd, given his election manifesto in 2010 promised exactly that, an in-out referendum”.

Labour’s former Europe Minister Keith Vaz, a supporter of EU membership, called for the vote to happen now as it is “time to settle the question of Britain’s membership in the EU once and for all”.

“The PM cannot allow the European Question to overshadow the critical issues that will confront our economy over the next few years.

“The time for a referendum is now. The people must decide. Let’s do it!”, he said.