Town may lead way in vote on staying in Europe

The constituency is one of 13 being considered for the first votes on whether a national referendum should be held. It would be organised by the People’s Pledge campaign, which wants to hold all-postal votes in 10 areas by the end of the year. Another 100 could be staged next year to increase pressure on Ministers to promise a national ballot.

The group, which has cross-party backing from MPs and will chose where to stage the first ballot within days, promises a full by-election style campaign as it asks voters whether they want a national referendum on whether to remain within the EU.

Ian McKenzie, communications director of the People’s Pledge, which already has 90,000 backers, said: “The last time Britain had a referendum on whether we should stay in the Common Market was in 1975, since when it has changed beyond recognition from an economic to a political union. A referendum in the next parliament would determine the modern, settled view of the British people.”

The shortlisting of Halifax comes as former Cabinet Minister Jack Straw and a string of other Labour MPs, including Batley and Spen’s Mike Wood, yesterday called for £4.2bn of regeneration to be spent in Britain instead of being pumped into Europe.

They spoke out after a report by the Open Europe think tank showed British taxpayers’ money was going to fund other rich European nations. It called for reforms so only poorer nations receive money from EU “structural funds”, saving the UK £4.2bn, more than £300m of which could be pumped into boosting Yorkshire’s economy.