Clause 8 — Commencement

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 3:30 pm on 5 March 2008.

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Photo of Ian Davidson Ian Davidson Labour, Glasgow South West 3:30, 5 March 2008

I am never entirely sure whether the Liberal Democrats are quite as silly as they pretend— [Interruption.] The hon. Gentleman raised a point with me; he might at least do me the courtesy of listening to my reply. My intention is to reach out to the Liberal Democrats and be helpful. It is clear that they want an in/out question. My new clause is the only way to achieve that; it is the only option on offer that gives any possibility of that question being asked— [Interruption.] Let me complete the point. I am strongly in favour of a yes/no question being asked. I am prepared to concede that, if there is sufficient public pressure, we should have an in/out question as well. Only the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence party want that, but none the less I would be prepared to vote for it, and I did.

However, the responsibility for garnering public support for the idea ought to be with the Liberal Democrats. I have left open the possibility of introducing an in/out question if the Liberal Democrats managed to persuade the Government of that—as I and others managed to persuade our dear leader on 20 April 2004 to accept a referendum on Europe. The policy had been entirely against a referendum, and huge numbers of my colleagues were against it—until the policy changed, when huge numbers of them were in favour. Indeed, I could not find any who had ever been against it.