Labour taking the option?

Following up my post of yesterday the noise about a possible Labour in/out referendum which has been swirling around Labour blogs. No it seems as if the Labour party heirachy are taking the suggestions seriously to the as this article in the Independent.

Sunder Katwala, general secretary of the Labour-affiliated society, said: "There is unlikely to be a referendum on British membership before 2015. But there must be a good chance of a referendum by the time of the 50th anniversary of the last referendum to stay in, in 1975, in order to settle the question of British membership."

He admitted that a plebiscite could create economic uncertainty, but said that the risks of losing the vote were not a good argument against holding one.

Wayne David, the shadow minister for Europe, said: "The Labour Party is having a fundamental policy review and this is one of the things that will be considered." He was "still to be convinced," he said, but some Labour figures believed a referendum would "lance the boil" of Euroscepticism.

Of course this is only a few straws in the wind, but in the absence of policy which is where Labour is at when it comes to Europe, and great glowing stick of dynamite is a wonderful thing to chuck under the cabinet table