EU Membership (Renegotiation)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 3 March 2015.

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Photo of Philip Hammond Philip Hammond Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 11:30, 3 March 2015

I reiterate the commitment that the Prime Minister has already made that there will be a referendum by the end of 2017 if there is a Conservative Government. There is virtually no movement in polling evidence in the demand for a referendum. I will say something else to my hon. Friend: by creating the referendum we have—I will use the phrase again—lit a fire under our partners in Europe. They now know that they have to deliver change that is substantive and meaningful; not some backroom political deal, but something that will satisfy the British people in a referendum. That is what is driving the debate.