Tory MPs want to trust voters on Europe. Labour MPs do not.

By Tim Montgomerie
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A new poll of MPs, conducted by YouGov for the People's Pledge campaign, finds that there is a big gap between the percentage of Tory MPs supporting a referendum on Britain's EU membership and the percentage of Labour MPs open to such a promise.

The actual figures were as follows:

• 41 out of 47 Conservative MPs surveyed said that their next General Election manifesto should have a commitment to hold an EU referendum.
• 10 out of 39 Labour MPs surveyed said that their next General Election manifesto should have a commitment to hold an EU referendum.
• 6 out of 9 Liberal Democrat MPs also supported a referendum.

The poll proves to me two big things: (1) that Euroscepticism is still a minority pursuit inside the Labour Party and (2) that if David Cameron doesn't soon offer a referendum then internal party management will become very tricky.

Another YouGov poll of ALL voters - for The Sunday Times - finds that when the question about our EU membership isn't asked in binary In/Out form there is still a hunger for big change but only 26% support "complete withdrawal". An additional 34% want "little more than a free trade area";

Bernard Jenkin MP's proposed question for a referendum - "Do you want the UK government to negotiate a new relationship with the EU based on trade and political cooperation?” - seems about right.