Tory MP Douglas Carswell claims that UK’s future in Europe is not settled

THE UK’s future in the European Union is no longer a settled issue and it is not just “mavericks” calling for ties to Brussels to be cut, it was claimed in the Commons.

David Cameron faced pressure from his own MPs to give a firm promise to hold a referendum on Europe, with calls for a simple in/out question.

The comments came as a backbench Tory bid to pass legislation which would allow the UK to leave the EU failed after running out of time.

Tory Douglas Carswell said a recent poll found a majority of voters want Britain to quit the EU, with 51% of people in favour of leaving and only 34% wanting to remain in.

“This is the highest level of discontent for a generation,” Mr Carswell said.

Even members of the Cabinet had started to come round to the view that “Britain may indeed be better off out”.

Britain joined the Common Market, Mr Carswell said, in the belief that it would be good for the economy.

But the growth of countries such as China, India and Brazil and the crisis in the eurozone meant “far from joining a rising economic powerhouse, we have shackled ourselves to a corpse”.

Mr Carswell, whose effort to repeal the 1972 European Communities Act failed to get a second reading after little over 30 minutes was available for the debate, hit out at the cost of EU membership.

“The 2010 increase in our net contribution is greater than the sum total of all the austerity savings made since the last general election,” he said.

“We are having to justify austerity in our constituencies when we have an administration that is handing over ever larger sums of our money to remain part of this austerity club.”

Calling for serious discussions about how the UK could exit the EU, he said: “Withdrawing from the European Union can no longer be dismissed as unthinkable, it’s no longer a marginal view confined to mavericks. It is a legitimate point that is starting to go mainstream.”

Clacton MP Mr Carswell added: “The question of Britain’s EU membership is no longer settled. It is now an open question. Many of us in this House, and indeed in the country, now openly question our EU membership.

“A referendum is coming, it will boil down to in or out. The case for out gets stronger.

“But we need to give people a sense of what self-government is going to look like, going to feel like.”

Tory Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) said there was a “democratic deficit” as there had been no public vote on membership of the European club since 1975.

He said a referendum would have to offer the choice of remaining in the EU or leaving in favour of a looser “customs union” with the continent.

“I don’t think the Government can simply sit on this issue for ever,” he said.

“I think there will be a fair amount of cynicism if the Government, some time in the next 18 months, say that it is their intention, perhaps after the next election, to have a referendum without any clear indication of what will be the question and what will be the negotiation.

“There is a huge amount of cynicism on the part of the British people. They’ve had promises of referendums in the past, they’ve had promises from the former government, they’ve had promises from our own front bench.”

Europe Minister David Lidington said the UK’s membership of the EU was based on a “pragmatic” view of what was in the national interest.