Cameron's EU Referendum Bill fails again

The Lib Dems have refused to support David Cameron's EU Referendum Bill through parliament meaning that it's been scuppered for the second time.

The Tories are trying to act disappointed about it but a Lib Dem source said that the Tories "folded like a cheap deckchair" and wanted the Lib Dems to scupper it so they'd have someone else to blame for not having a referendum they don't want to happen.

David Cameron's EU Referendum Bill would have enabled a referendum on our membership of the EU to be held in 2017. Contrary to the spin put out by the Conservatives, it wouldn't have forced a referendum to be held because any law can be repealed by parliament and an EU Referendum Act would would almost certainly be one of the first to go after the next election, regardless of who comes to power (unless it's UKIP of course).

There are three important points to remember about this whole sham EU Referendum Bill:

David Cameron is admitting to being dishonest. He doesn't trust himself to keep his own promise of an EU referendum so he's trying to pass a law to force himself to keep his own promise. With his track record it's understandable that he wouldn't trust himself but it's quite an astonishing admission from a politician.

An EU Referendum law wouldn't force the next parliament to hold a referendum. No parliament may bind its successor, This is the most fundamental principal of parliamentary sovereignty. It means that this lot in power now can't stop the next lot who take over from repealing or amending any of the laws that have been passed at any time in the history of law making. In fact, that only thing that parliament can't change is the fact that they can't stop parliament from changing anything. If Labour get into power net year a law requiring a referendum on our membership of the EU will be one of the first to go. If the Tories manage to salvage the ConDem coalition it will still be one of the first to go. Even if the Tories somehow managed to scrape together a majority they'd find a reason to repeal it because they don't want a referendum.

The Tories wanted the EU Referendum Bill to fail. A Lib Dem source said that the Tories deliberately put in "ridiculous conditions" that the Lib Dems would never agree to and then "folded like a cheap deckchair" so they could blame the Lib Dems for it not passing. The source said "The only logical conclusion that can be reached is that the Tories don’t really want their Bill to pass and are trying to set the Lib Dems up as the scapegoats".