European Union Referendum Bill PDF Download

In January 2013 the Prime Minister undertook that in his party's manifesto for the 2015 general election he would seek "a mandate from the British people ... to negotiate a new settlement with our European partners." He further undertook that, once that settlement had been negotiated, there would be an "in-out" referendum in which the British people could choose "to stay in the EU on these new terms; or come out altogether". He undertook that all this would be done "in the first half of the next Parliament", that "legislation will be drafted before the next election" and that "if a Conservative Government is elected we will introduce the enabling legislation immediately and pass it by the end of that year". This bill accelerates that last part of the process: this is the "enabling legislation" of which the Prime Minister spoke. In the Committee's 2010 report on Referendums in the United Kingdom it was concluded that "if referendums are to be used, they are most appropriately used in relation to fundamental constitutional issues". Among the fundamental constitutional issues which we identified was "any proposal ... to leave the European Union". This report discusses the process the bill has gone through, the referendum question and regulation of referendums