By Martin Banks - 9th August 2011
This is an encouraging development
Nikki Sinclaire
The Campaign for a Referendum on Britain's EU membership has been given a double boost.
It comes after it was revealed that a petition demanding an "in or out" vote has now attracted more than 100,000 signatures.
At the same time, a new YouGov poll reveals a majority of UK citizens want to have the say on Britain's EU membership.
The poll suggests a majority of people would vote to leave the EU in a referendum. It says that some 60 per cent of voters want a referendum on whether Britain should remain a member of the EU.
If there was a vote, 52 per cent would vote to leave, with only 30 per cent preferring to stay in and 15 per cent undecided and 4 per cent not bothering to vote.
The petition signatures were collected by UK independent MEP Nikki Sinclaire.
She said, "The poll results will make very uncomfortable reading for David Cameron as a vast majority of Tory voters back a referendum and withdrawal from the EU.
"Cameron has pledged to dedicate House of Commons time to any issue which has the support of at least 100,000 people.
"While he insists the names must be collected on individually entered electronic petitions, the Commons leader's office has indicated that a traditional pen-and-ink petition could be lodged with the backbench business committee if it has one or more MPs sponsoring it."
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, the former UKIP member said, "This is an encouraging development and raises the prospect of an early debate on our continued membership of the EU.
"Almost eight in ten people want a national debate on the pros and cons of EU membership."
"To insist that only an online petition will count would disenfranchise millions of people, particularly the poor and elderly, who do not have an email account or access to a computer.
"The huge response to our campaign, together with the findings of our poll, show that most people want their say."
Sinclaire added, "The poll shows overwhelming support for letting the public decide our future in the EU - and if they got their way they would vote to pull out.
"Clearly the people of Britain want to decide who governs Britain. It must be alarming to the government that despite all their assurances on sovereignty and cast iron promises, more and more people have given up on this European project.
"This argument has gone on far too long, we must decide our course once and for all in a binding referendum."
She believes the UK "gets the worst of both worlds while inside the EU but outside the eurozone".
"We have one foot in and one foot outside it," she said. "This is detrimental to our interests and to those of the EU, both politically and economically. We need to take a decision as to where our future lies.
"Despite numerous promises, nobody under the age of 54 has ever had a say on Britain's relationship with the EU. This issue needs to be resolved."
