British Lawmakers Try to Force EU Referendum Vote

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British Prime Minister David Cameron faced renewed pressure on Europe Thursday after a group of rebels from his own party pushed for a potentially embarrassing vote over a referendum on EU membership.

The vote, expected next week, would be non-binding, but still comes as a fresh blow to Cameron's authority after he attacked a cabal of former ministers who are urging him to pull out of the 27-member bloc.

Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Brussels and then hold a referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017 -- provided that the Conservatives win the next general election in 2015.

But the rise of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party in recent local polls has prompted many Conservatives to press Cameron to enshrine the referendum pledge in law before 2015.

"The idea that this can wait until the general election is not good enough," said lawmaker Peter Bone, one of the rebels. "If Labor (the main opposition party) won the general election they would not bring it in."

The rebels on Thursday said they had tabled a non-binding motion in the House of Commons, or lower house of parliament, expressing regret that there was no mention of the EU referendum in Wednesday's Queen Speech, in which the government set out its priorities for the next year.

The motion -- which must first be selected by the parliamentary speaker for debate and a vote -- would not force Cameron to take any action.

It is unlikely to be voted through anyway, as both the Liberal Democrats, the junior partners in Cameron's coalition government, and the opposition Labor party do not favor a referendum.

Cameron's spokesman said Thursday he was "relaxed" about the vote and hinted that ministers could be allowed to support it.

The prime minister had "always said he is very happy to look at all ways of strengthening his commitment to an in/out referendum in the next parliament," the spokesman said.

But the fact that the rebels are forcing the vote is unwelcome as it reopens the subject of Europe, a toxic issue for the Conservatives which led to the downfall in 1990 of "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher, who died in April.

"The objective is to keep the Government focused on this issue," said another of the rebels, John Baron.

"It would send a clear message that we are not going away and that there is a large body of opinion inside and outside this place that believes that legislation is right for a EU referendum."

Cameron earlier Thursday used a speech to an investment conference in London to defend his current approach as "logical, sensible, practical".

He was speaking after another senior member of his Conservative Party, Michael Portillo, followed former finance minister Nigel Lawson in urging Britain to quit the bloc.

"I am faced as I do so, if you like, by two groups of pessimists," he said.

"There are some pro-European pessimists who say, 'you have to, in Europe, simply sign up to every single thing that anyone in the EU suggests. You sign every treaty, you sign everything -- there is no alternative'.

"I think they are completely wrong.

"The second group of pessimists say there is no prospect of reforming the EU, you simply have to leave. I think they are wrong too.

"I think it is possible to change and reform this organisation and change and reform Britain's relationship with it."

Portillo, a former defense minister, said in an article in The Times on Thursday that Cameron's plan was an "insincere ploy" which would lead to no more than "minimal renegotiation" of Britain's terms of membership.

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