Miliband under pressure on EU

THE pressure is on Ed Miliband to match David Cameron’s pledge on a referendum on Europe, with a poll suggesting he might benefit electorally if he did.

A Comres survey of 1000 adults showed three in 10 people were more likely to vote Conservative as a result of the PM’s pledge.

Among these, some 16% of Labour supporters and a l most 40% of UKIP supporters said they were now more likely to vote Conservative.

The snapshot also showed 27% of respondents said they would be more likely to vote Labour if Mr Miliband matched the Tory leader’s referendum pledge, and 22% would be more likely to vote Liberal Democrat if Nick Clegg followed suit.

However, 49% of people said they shared the worries of Labour and LibDems that delaying the poll to 2017 could hurt the economy by fuelling uncertainty.

Overall, compared with a similar survey last month, Labour are on 39%, down two points, the Tories are on 32%, up one, UKIP are also up one on 10%, drawing level with the LibDems, who are unchanged on 10%.

Repeated at a general election, these figures would give Mr Miliband a Commons majority of 84.

Earlier, George Osborne described it as “odd” for Labour and the LibDems to go into the next general election telling voters they did not trust them to make a decision on Britain’s future in Europe.

The Chancellor rejected Nick Clegg’s assertion that a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU by the end of 2017 would create uncertainty for business by “tying us up in knots”.

“I don’t agree with him on this and I don’t think it’s any secret Liberal Democrats and the Labour Party don’t think the people should be asked about our future in Europe, whereas the Conservative Party does,” Mr Osborne said.