Is Cameron's EU Speech Really A Game-Changer?

http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/eu-speech-at-bloomberg/
http://news.sky.com/story/1041728/eu-speech-a-huge-throw-of-dice-for-cameron
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/9821587/Ed-Miliband-opposes-EU-vote-but-party-says-just-for-now.html

David Cameron has delivered his much-awaited speech on Britain's future in the European Union.

His pledge to offer the British people a referendum on whether to stay in or leave the EU, has, predictably, had a mixed reaction from across the political spectrum.

There's no doubt that the speech was written with Tory Euro-sceptic MPs in mind, who have been calling for a referendum for years, as well as the growing number of Tory voters who now clearly want Britain to leave the EU and have been deserting David Cameron for UKIP in their droves.

However, despite a small poll-bounce in favour of the Tories immediately after the speech, it is clear that Mr Cameron still has a mountain to climb if he is to win a Conservative majority at the next general election in 2015.

Making a pledge to hold a referendum is one thing; implementing Britain's withdrawl from the EU is quite another.

Polls show that the majority of British people want to leave the EU now rather than later.

The circumstances surrounding Britain's last referendum in 1975 are radically removed from the terms of any subsequent vote on Europe. Then, we were voting to join a single market.  Since then the powers of what is now the European Union have increased very dramatically, without the British people having a say on whether they like these arrangements or not.

However, Britain leaving the EU will be entirely dependent on negotiations to this end reaching a swift and satisfactory outcome. The voices of opposition have been quick to make themselves heard.

Nick Clegg has pointed out that the Prime Minister has sentenced this country to years of uncertainty whilst talks to secure Britain's future position take place.  This has been reinforced by US President Obama suggesting that Britain should stay in the EU. And now leading economists have weighed in; suggesting that merely having a debate on the issue is damaging economic growth. http://news.sky.com/politics

So what has Labour's reaction to all this?

I have long maintained that Ed Miliband should support an in-out referendum on Europe, since it is clearly what the British people want and such a policy would certainly be a vote-winner for Labour.

However, Miliband has completely failed to grasp the political initiative and Labour's response to Cameron's pledge to hold an in-out referendum in 2017 was nothing short of a shambles.

On the one hand, at PMQs immediately following Cameron's address, Miliband appeared to rule out a referendum all together.  But only a few hours later, Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander contradicted his leader's position by insisting Labour had not ruled out support for a referendum, as did several other frontbench colleagues.

Labour currently has a very comfortable lead in the polls, but they have missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position even further and show that they are really in tune with the thinking of the British people.

The Prime Minister has responded to his backbenchers in agreeing to hold a referendum and it clearly has the support of the electorate.

But with Britain teetering on the edge of a possible triple-dip recession, one has to ask whether it will be the economy and unemployment, rather than a protracted debate on Europe, which will be a greater worry for the Prime Minister in the run-up to the next election.