Over four decades ago, a referendum was held on the United Kingdom’s membership of the then European Community.
Last week, I joined parliamentary colleagues in the House of Commons in voting for the EU Referendum Bill – which legislates for a referendum by the end of 2017.
Under the Coalition, various Conservative MPs put forward bills for a referendum, which were blocked in Parliament by Labour and the Liberal Democrats. One of the MPs who put forward such legislation was James Wharton, who I now continue to work with in my role at the Department for Communities & Local Government.
In this role I play my part devolving of power and decision-making to local authorities and people around the country.
To this end, it is right that on an issue such as the EU that many people have stopped me in the street to discuss over the last five years, that people across our country have a say.
It is wrong for those in the Westminster bubble to stop us having our voice heard.
The Foreign Secretary remarked that the European Union has come to feel like something that is done to them, not for them. Turnout in last year’s European Parliament elections was the lowest ever, dropping to 13% in Slovakia.
As Philip Hammond said, since the British referendum in 1975, people across the EU have been asked their views on important aspects of their country’s relationships with the EU via more than 30 different national referendums, but not in the UK.
This will soon change.
While there have been referendums on Scottish devolution, Welsh devolution and the electoral system, an entire generation and more of British voters have been denied the chance to have a say on our relationship with the European Union.
I have always said that this is what a Conservative majority Government would do and I welcome this being one of its first bills put forward.
On behalf of people across Crawley – some who voted for me, and some who did not – I was pleased to vote in favour of an in/out referendum on the UK’s EU membership in the House of Commons last week.