THE GUARDIAN: MPs voted today overwhelmingly against the idea of having a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union.
Labour and the Conservatives joined forces to vote down the Liberal Democrat proposal, which was rejected in the Commons by 471 votes to 68, a majority of 403.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, claimed the Lib Dem proposal was a "fig leaf", designed to disguise the fact that Nick Clegg's party was breaking a promise it made at the last election to support a referendum on the proposed EU constitution.
Today's vote was on a technical motion, and a Lib Dem win would not automatically have led to the holding of a referendum on Britain's EU membership.
But their defeat means that the issue is highly unlikely to be put to a vote again while the European Union (amendment) bill, the legislation ratifying the Lisbon treaty, goes through parliament. MPs reject call for EU membership referendum >>> By Andrew Sparrow, senior political correspondent | Tuesday March 4 2008
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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