Until Cameron spells out exactly what he wants to “renegotiate”, we’re all “Don’t Knows” on the Europe question

The rift in the Conservative Party over the European Union has blown wide open and now threatens to consume the party in all-out civil war.

Cameron’s set-piece speech on Europe where he announced that he would hold an In-Out Referendum by 2017 was supposed to put the matter to bed. It was a carefully thought-out calculation but instead of keeping euro-sceptics off his back, it has only fuelled the flames of dissent.

Eur0-sceptic rebels in his parliamentary party have forced Cameron to draft a private members’ bill to pave the way for a referendum. Clearly, his promises are not worth much to his own party.

In a sorry abdication of leadership, Mr Cameron is now conceding to rebel demands. Cameron’s big Europe speech is now a distant memory. His EU strategy is in tatters.  It’s all a bit of a euro-shambles.

Over a hundred Tory backbenchers had voted in favour of an amendment attacking their own Government’s Queen’s speech because it wasn’t euro-sceptic enough. If in the last Labour administration, a hundred or so Labour MPs had rebelled against the Government’s legislative programme, the media would have said it was a leadership crisis.

The question of whether we leave the European Union is a serious one. Once we are out, there is no going back. And yet, Mr Cameron, spooked by UKIP’s relative success in the local elections, is treating it in a very cavalier way. He seems more concerned about internal party politics than the national interest.

Opinion polls in the UK show that there is a large amount of Don’t-Knows over the question of whether we should withdraw. This comes as no surprise to me. The information people receive about the EU is heavily biased against the EU. I don’t buy into the idea that once we have a Referendum, the smoke will clear and the public will be presented with clear facts on which they can base their judgement. If anything, the misinformation will get worse.

Cameron talks about “re-negotiating” terms with the EU before putting it to a Referendum. The only alternative to David Cameron’s re-negotiated Europe is complete withdrawal. So, not much of a choice – especially when he can’t tell us what policies he will want to repatriate.

I think it’s fair to say that EU workplace rights will be at the top of his hit-list. But we don’t know what else. How then can even pro-Europeans like me make a judgement about whether the UK should stay in or not? I’m not sure I would want to be in the EU at any price. Mr Cameron needs to urgently spell out what it is he wants. Until then, we are pretty much all Don’t Knows.

The Prime Minister needs to demonstrate leadership, deal with his rebels and engage with the public about what direction he wants the country to take. The Don’t Knows are genuinely torn over what would be in the best interest of the country, and they deserve much better.