| European Union (Referendum) Bill 2013-14 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | |
| |
| Citation | HL Bill 63 |
| Considered by | Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced by | James Wharton |
| First reading | 19 June 2013 |
| Second reading | 5 July 2013 |
| Third reading | 29 November 2013 |
| Related legislation | |
| Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 European Communities Act 1972 | |
| Status: Blocked | |
TheEuropean Union (Referendum) Bill 2013–14 was aprivate member's bill of theParliament of the United Kingdom designed to make provision for areferendum on membership of the European Union to be held in 2017 following renegotiation of terms between theEuropean Union and the United Kingdom government. The bill ceased to be considered by Parliament after January 2014 and did not become law.[1] However, a subsequent bill with the same objective, theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015, was later introduced to the House of Commons by the newly electedConservative government in May 2015 was passed and received royal assent on 17 December 2015.
The issue of theUnited Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union had been ongoing for many years before the 2010 general election, arguably since the1975 United Kingdom European Communities membership referendum. In 2013David Cameron pledged to renegotiate the United Kingdom's terms of membership with the European Union.[2] In May 2013, the Conservative Party published a draft EU referendum bill and outlined their plans for renegotiation and then an in-out vote if returned to office in 2015.[3] The draft bill stated that the referendum must be held no later than 31 December 2017.[4] The draft was taken forward as aprivate member's bill in the House of Commons by the Conservative memberJames Wharton[5] who had come top of a ballot of backbench MPs, entitling him to introduce a bill during the 2013–14 parliamentary session. His bill attempted to enshrine the Conservative Party Position into law before the 2015 general election. A spokesman forprime minister andLeader of the Conservative Party,David Cameron, said he was "very pleased" and would ensure the bill was given "the full support of the Conservative Party".[6]
The Bill set out the foundations for the timetable and question (Section 1), the electorate (Section 2), and the cost (Section 5).[7]
Originally the bill gave the question to appear on ballot papers:
Do you think that the United Kingdom should be a member of the European Union?
and inWelsh:
Ydych chi'n credu y dylai'r Deyrnas Unedig fod yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd?
permitting a simpleYES/NO answer (to be marked with a single (X)).
In the autumn of 2013 theElectoral Commission published a report which studied and tested the wording of the proposed question contained within the bill and presented two possible revised options.
The first recommendation was an amended question which kept the yes/no response options:
Do you think that the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union?
and inWelsh:
A ddylai'r Deyrnas Unedig aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd?
permitting a simpleYES/NO answer (to be marked with a single (X)).
This option was presented as the original proposed question within theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015.
The second recommendation was an amended question which changed the responses from the yes/no options:
Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?
with the responses to the question (to be marked with a single (X)):
Remain a member of the European Union
Leave the European Union
and inWelsh:
A ddylai'r Deyrnas Unedig aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd neu adael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd?
with the responses (to be marked with a single (X)):
Aros yn aelod o'r Undeb Ewropeaidd
Gadael yr Undeb Ewropeaidd
TheElectoral Commission tested this option but were unable to fully able to explore its full viability in the time available however it would be this exact wording and responses that would later be used and appeared on ballot papers for the2016 EU Referendum under theEuropean Union Referendum Act 2015.[8]
Regarding the ability of the bill to force the next parliament into holding a referendum, a parliamentary research paper noted that:
The bill's first reading in the House of Commons was made on 19 June 2013.[10] It received its second reading on 5 July 2013 by 304 votes to none after almost all Labour MPs and allLiberal Democrat MPs abstained.[11] It then progressed through its Committee and Report Stages between July and November 2013 and finally cleared the Commons in November 2013.
In late 2013, Conservative MPAdam Afriyie tabled an amendment to the bill bring forward the date of the referendum to 2014[12] but his amendment was defeated in the House of Commons.[13]
The bill was introduced to the House of Lords in December 2013 and had its Second Reading there on 10 January 2014.[14] At the time it was suggested that the Bill would not 'make it through the Lords alive'.[15] The last consideration of the bill was its examination by committee on 31 January 2014[1] and the debate ended at that committee stage. Peers voted by 180 to 130 not to allow more time for a debate in the Lords and no further days were scheduled. The rejection by the House of Lords effectively blocked the bill[16] and killed off the proposed legislation.[17]
After the bill failed to pass the House of Lords, James Wharton blamed Labour and Liberal Democrat obstructionism; however the Liberal Democrats argued that the Conservatives themselves had not assigned the bill enough time whilst Labour responded by stating that the bill was in the Conservative Party's interest rather than the national one.[18] Wharton has since argued that his Private Member's Bill was designed to put the issue to rest.[19]
The Bill received numerous opposition particularly from theHouse of Lords where the bill was blocked as well as fromLabour Party and theLiberal Democrats.
Former EU commissionerLord Mandelson criticised the bill at the time by describing it as government "grandstanding to theUKIP gathering" and also said "We need to concentrate on using all of our influence and energy in building up Britain's influence in Europe, not driving Britain out of Europe."
Liberal Democrats peerBaroness Falkner of Margravine told peers that the legislation was too "important to rush through" and although she trusted the public to make the right decision accused the government of picking the proposed 2017 date as "arbitrarily plucked out of the air".
Labour peer Baroness Quinn also criticised the bill by describing the proposed commitment as "alarming" and was "highly irregular in singling out a date".[20]
The Bill was also described as "economically devastating",[21] and "biased and vague".[22]
In May 2015 theConservative Party led by then Prime MinisterDavid Cameron won a small but unexpected overall majority in the2015 general election which contained a manifesto promise to hold arenegotiation of the UK's membership of the EU to be followed by a in-out referendum. It was fulfilled when a Referendum Bill was contained in the Queens speech three weeks after the election with bothLabour and theLiberal Democrats dropping their previous opposition. Therenegotiation was completed in February 2016 and thereferendum was held on 23 June of the same year in which 51.9% of voters chose to Leave the European Union compared with 48.1% of voters who chose to Remain a member of the European Union.
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