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James Wharton
James Wharton has said he expects his bill to pass its second reading on Friday. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA
James Wharton has said he expects his bill to pass its second reading on Friday. Photograph: Philip Toscano/PA

David Cameron accused of 'partisan meddling' in EU referendum bill

This article is more than 10 years old
Labour donor says PM's overly party political approach means MPs from other parties feel they cannot support bill

David Cameron will be warned by proponents of a referendum on EU membership that he is endangering the success of the campaign by taking an overly party political approach.

A private member's bill offering a referendum in 2017, promoted by the Tory MP James Wharton, is due to have its second reading on Friday.

The Labour donor John Mills, a backer of the referendum campaign, says in an article for the Guardian: "The Conservatives have chosen to make their bill all blue. One by one, Labour MPs who joined us in supporting the Labour for a Referendum campaign have been rebuffed.

"Cameron's partisan meddling with this backbencher's bill has left many MPs from other parties in a position where they feel they simply cannot support it, and that means it will struggle to become law."

Mills is due to attend a cross-party press briefing on the bill with Wharton and other Eurosceptic campaigners on Monday. It is understood that some of them are disturbed that Cameron is playing the bill for Conservative advantage rather trying to build cross-party support.

In a sign of the prime minister's willingness to put pressure on the other parties, Cameron challenged Nick Clegg to live up to a Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment to support a bill on Britain's EU membership.

The prime minister, who confirmed that he would vote in favour of the bill on Friday, joked that the deputy prime minister had the chance to support his own policy "once again".

He was speaking in Islamabad a few hours before Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said Liberal Democrats would abstain from the debate on the grounds that the bill was a "parliamentary stunt".

But Downing Street is so serious about the vote that it brought forward the prime minister's overseas trip in part to allow him to take part on Friday. Tory MPs are facing a three-line whip to support the bill.

Cameron has to rely on a private member's bill because the Liberal Democrats denied him government time.

The prime minister reminded Clegg that the Lib Dems pledged to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership in their manifesto for the 2010 election. He declined to mention that they qualified the commitment by saying the referendum should be held if there was a major revision of the Lisbon treaty.

Asked whether he would be voting on Friday, Cameron said: "I will be there. I think this is a serious effort by the government – sorry, the Conservative part of the coalition – to get behind this bill. I think that if, as I gather, Labour are not engaging in this, then there is every prospect of it passing into law. And we will do everything we can to back it."

Wharton himself said he expected the bill to pass its second reading and then return for its report stage in November.

Cameron said the Lib Dems should make up their minds. "In the end, people have to get off the fence and say what they think about it. I totally support it. It is my policy written into law," he said.

"I would say to all MPs, turn up and vote. I've discussed it regularly with Nick Clegg. The Liberal Democrats, like everyone else, have to make up their mind – do they want to give the British people a say or do they not? I sometimes joke with them that if you go back to their manifesto it's quite like what their policy used to be, and who knows, maybe it can be once again."

The calculations about the Wharton bill changed over the weekend when the Guardian revealed that the Labour party could move to pre-empt the Tories by calling for an early "clear the air" referendum, possibly before the 2015 general election. Cameron has said a referendum should be held no later than the end of 2017 to allow him to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership if he wins the 2015 general election.

Ed Miliband is still resistant to changing Labour's position of only backing a referendum if a clear shift of power to Brussels is proposed. He has told the shadow cabinet that it would do vast damage to Britain if the party made a rash or opportunistic commitment now.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Rightwing Tory pleads for no amendments to his EU referendum bill

  • David Cameron challenges Nick Clegg over EU referendum

  • The EU vote: this is a blue referendum

  • Liberal Democrats to abstain from Commons debate on EU membership

  • 'Ten years from now we will be in the EU and thinking again about joining the euro'

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