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European Council

Does the Prime Minister think that his successor will be able to maintain his line against a referendum? Let us suppose that the Leader of the Opposition decided to give a pledge that, should he be elected at the next election, he would give the British people a vote on the treaty. As such a move would probably be very popular, particularly among Labour voters, does the Prime Minister believe that his successor would go into a general election leaving this issue for the voters to decide then, rather than in a referendum? In those circumstances, would not his advice to his successor be that he ought to separate the issues, have a referendum and then separately have a vote at the general election?