Today I will be asking the Backbench Business Committee for a debate on whether the United Kingdom should hold a national referendum on or membership of the European Union.
It is 36 years since we last held a referendum and our relationship with what was then known as the Common Market and the European Union has changed out of all recognition since that time.
The motion I am submitting for debate is:
This House calls upon the Government to introduce a Bill in the next session of Parliament to provide for the holding of a national referendum on whether the United Kingdom should:
(a) remain a member of the European Union on the current terms;
(b) leave the European Union; or
(c) re-negotiate the terms of its membership in order to create a new relationship based on trade and co-operation.
I believe that a referendum along these lines would allow the public to make clear their views about our current membership of the European Union.
UPDATE I am pleased to report that the application to the Backbench Business Committee was successful and a debate on the above motion will now take place on Thursday 27th October.
FURTHER UPDATE The date of the debate has been changed to Nonday 24th October.
David Nuttall 
David,
Where do you personally stand on this point? You want a referenda for UK voters but you don’t state which of your three options you would vote for and why.
What has caused you to be so focused on the EU / UK issue?
Hi,
Personally I would vote to withdraw from the European Union. I believe we would be better off outside the EU. We could be members of EFTA the European Free Trade Association and we would be free to negotiate our own trade deals. We would be free from having to contribute billions of pounds each year to the European Union and free from all their rules and regulations.
David
Thank you for your prompt reply and honest answer.
Well done David.
111 MPs against the Party Leaderships and Whips.
Not bad
I didn’t manage to see it David, but from what I have been told, you were fantastic. Well done.
So, the leopards have shown their spots again. All those Little Englander eurosceptic tories trying to take Britain back into splendid isolation. How come no one ever talks about the good that has come out of the EU – like peace in Europe for more than 60 years; a single market for goods and services; freedom of movement (wait, we don’t have that in UK, because we are not in the Schengen area, unfortunately, condemning us to long lines for immigration);…. For business, economy and jobs, we would be absolutely foolish to consider leaving.
I, for one, will be voting against you, David, when the next election comes up. I regret not voting for Maryam Khan, now. All my colleagues (Germans, French, Italians, Finns) think we Britons are a laughing stock because of this continual semi-detached attitude towards our neighbours, friends and trading partners.
The UK is under a grip of Compensation claims, Lawyers lining their pockets
You must have seen the adverts on TV. Health and Safety Consultants etc.
In the old days the Mafia used to run protection rackets, loan sharking and illegal gambling.
Their position today is weakened.
Has anyone noticed its growth in society.
This time it is legal all thanks to Europe.
Health and Safety laws: A business can’t get public liability insurance unless it goes to Health and Safety Consultants. The business has to pay for this service, risk assessments and recommendations, because if it doesn’t it is open to being sued by the lawyers you see on TV advertisind “Have you had an accident in the last 5 years etc”
Business passes these costs on to all of you.
This is like a protection racket.
Come to us for health and safety advice or else if their is an accident of some kind you will have to pay out.
Health and Safety puts restrictions on what you can do, where you can go and has done away with a lot of tourism and adds vasts amounts to your council taxes
Gambling is all over the UK in the form of on line and on TV putting families into debt.
Just like the Mafia only this is legal.
This is done on a computer etc, where you can’t see what is staked or who won and the on screen names for all you know may not exist it is not the same as going out on a girls night out at bingo or a Saturday afternoon bet at the bookies where you can see real people.
Loan Sharks are now replaced with payday loan companies advertising loans at typically 6000% One woman borrowed £500 got in a mess and had to payback £22000
All of this is thanks to Europe and originated mainly from the USA
Well done David for voting for the referendum!!!!
I live in the Isle of Man and i was impressed with David Nuttall on TV.
I think the UK should pull out of Europe.
Europe makes too many rules that put society in chains.
Many billions of pounds are spent on burocratic rules.
The Compensation Culture is one of the worst i have ever seen
Eight Billion Pounds wasted in NHS Compensation claims of which 4 Billion went on Lawyers between 2004 and 2009.
This 4 billion should be spent on the Hospitals not being put into the pockets of Claims Management firms.
I saw cases where lawyers were suing your NHS on as much as £800 per hour.
This needs simplifying so that any genuine compensation claims get paid out and these middlemen lawyers are cut out.
Health and Safety is another issue costing the nation a fortune and adding costs to local business and Council Tax Payers.
To give a small example: In the South UK they had a Christmas tree that cost £400 per year. Health and Safety came along and said the tree didn’t meet with current regulations and it cost the Council £14000 to have a tree that conformed to Health and Safety. Council tax payers have to pay for it and there are tens of thousands of examples like this all adding to the Council tax bills per family.
It is time society turned it back on all of this and get back to basics.
This is all European Policy
Just what a good MP is about. Well done.
A governing class has emerged in this country and settled themselves in Westminster who are an affront to democracy and have a complete disregard for the electorate.
Is there an Oliver Cromwell out there to save us?
Bad luck David but you gave the government a bloody nose and i am sorry you failed and i take no pleasure in saying that is the result i, and i suspect you yourself expected. I think it would be a good thing if a list of MPs who denied the voters the right to a referendum was published and they were made to answer to their electorate . I would like the voters of Bury to know you gave a very good and passionate speech in favour of a referendum which if there had not been a three line whip you may well have won. I am sure most people would agree that this three line whip nonsense is outdated and should be outlawed and it should be subject to a judicial review so that the views of the voters should be paramount and not the will of the government. Best of luck on this issue in the future and i congratulate you on a very astutue way of getting Fairfield Baby Unit mentioned, very clever, well done.
Timing wise, there is no harm in agreeing to the motion and setting the time for the referendum 2 years down the line.
David Cameron claims he will transfer powers back to Westminster, however without a believable sanction should this not take place – ie the people saying ‘enough’ if there is a referendum, this simply won’t take place. His position is not creditable.
Well done David Nuttall for raising this issue; it’s long overdue for the millions of people who feel they have never had any say.
Thankyou for requesting this debate. I am one of your constituents and would like the opportunity to vote for a renegotiation of our membership of the EU. Ann Joyce
Hello Mr Nuttall,
At last someone who is going to try to bring this issue to the general public. I understand how difficult this will be to get through the Commons, but desperately hope that you are successful.
I have no idea how many MPs collect a pension of any sort from the EU, but I hope that they will be told to abstain, due to the restrictive rule that they would lose such pension should they vote or even speak against the EU in any way.
Surely this is the equivalent of having a vested interest, and therefore their votes should not count. Hardly democracy at work, but then we are talking about the EU, aren’t we.
What a ridiculous time to introduce this, when money is tight and another referendum will cost a fortune, money that you Tories claim the country doesn’t have.
Better your pent your time in Parliament fighting for the issues that affect the lives of your Bury North constituents at this time of austerity and cuts; the Fairfield baby unit, local asylum seekers, failings with the UKBA which have been reported to you over and over again.
Just how do you think that the UK’s leaving the EU will ‘fix’ the maladministration of central government departments? Who will become our key trading partners now that we have ‘dumped the Commonwealth Countries’ with whom we used to do most of our pre EEC /EU trading?
How much will it cost to leave the EU and how will the UK pay for this?
This debate does need to be had, but UK residents need to be a fully informed and appraised of the financial costs involved in all your proposed options. If you have these costs already then please post them, inform us and allow your constituents the to well informed as to why you are so keen for us to leave the EU and what exactly will we gain by it, gain in the short and medium term, not the long term!
The timing on this debate and proposed referendum is ill-thought out when we have more pressing, urgent life matters to deal with such as job losses, youth job needs, housing costs and housing provision, cuts to disabled people’s benefits, cuts to local services for the elderly, children and disabled etc. etc. etc
What a ridiculous statement.
Why not the debate now? You agree we should have it. Surely this has the biggest effect on our economy.
You (seem to) think that the EU is good for our economy. Many disagree with you.
Whatever the answer, good or bad, it has a SIGNIFICANT effect.
Your suggestion that we should concentrate on other things is rather like suggesting that a family without a wage earner should decide which supermarket it’s best to shop at, and not bother deciding which jobs it is appropriate to apply for. Yes, if they make the right decision over the supermarket they will be able to buy more food and that is important. But if they make the right decision over the job, then they can do lots more still. Of course all the things you mention are important. But they can all be considered more carefully when we know what the best overall budget can be, and in deciding on this budget it is irresponsible in the extreme to ignore a major spend.
All sorts of figures are quoted on the EU. Most of them misleading on both sides. But what is undeniable is that we put money into the EU. Some of that money is put back into the UK based on the decisions of the unelected EU Bureaucrats. Some of that money goes elsewhere. But even the money that does come back is not ours to spend. Our Parliament cannot decide what to spend it on. Catherine Ashton and Peter Mandelson, Maria Damanaki and Rene Steichen, Pedro Solbes and Padraig Flynn and many others decide how it should be spent. Did you vote for any of these people? Did you get the opportunity to vote against these people? Have you seen the EU accounts? No, No and No. You haven’t seen their accounts because no auditor will approve them.
If you have made your mind up that we are better off in the EU then say so, and tell us why. How do we gain in the short term and the medium term, as well as the long term?
If not, then let’s have the debate. After all, you agree that we should have it.
The EU costs us a net £45m a day to be a part of – what could we do with that ? The administration costs arising from EU red tape are a damper on job creation. That their accounts have not been audited in 15 years and corruption is rife. That we have little control over our borders or fishing in our seas. Outrageous farm subsidies. I won’t go on; now is a really good time to decide whilst they are sufficiently distracted and less likely to make a fuss. Politicians don’t want influence for Britain – they want influence for politicians. EU policy of throwing money at Eire, virtually buying the Irish vote, largely caused the depth of their problems. Greece too – it’s long been bankrupt without borrowed cash keeping it afloat. What european country economy could afford retirement at 50 on full final salary ? – only one (Greece) that has someone else’s (ours amongst others) pockets to dip into. The EU will still want to trade with us – it’s a myth they won’t and we’ll be better placed to attract inward investment.
Fantastic David. Delighted that you have done this.
Just a pity that Cameron has put a three line whip against you, but let’s see how many of your colleagues are prepared to stand up and support you.
Well done – about time someone decided to force the issue.
Hi David, as you know i do not agree with most of your policies but on this issue i do, however i feel questions a and b are the same and will get the same answer and question c is not open to discussion because it will need the approval of the other EU countrys and i am sure you realise this and you know this will not happen. Why do i think this is a spurious attempt to try for a referendum, simple, the other EU countrys will not agree to any re-negotiation of the terms because we pay far too much into the EU and that would mean they would have to pay more if we got better terms, a bit like turkeys voting for xmas.We should have a vote on a simple question which will leave the politicians NO WRIGGLE ROOM and that question should read ; should we be in or out of the EU, with a simple box to tick which says IN or OUT. That is simple to understand even for a politician and there would be no way you lot could say the electorate were not clear on what it wanted. Good luck with your attempt but i feel it will fall on deaf ears as do most of your ill favoured attempts to change things. Whilst i am on here and assuming you get this on your electronic device very quickly i trust you will ask the health secretary what is going to happen to Fairfield Baby Unit this afternoon at health questions in the house today Tuesday 18 october at 2-30 pm. this post is written at 14-15 pm .