But He Won't Do It

The Tories are terrified that Nick Clegg is going to use tomorrow's Leaders' Debate to revive his party's commitment to an In/Out referendum on EU membership. He should do no such thing.

Instead, he should promise that a predominantly Lib Dem Parliament would enact an amendment or a one-clause Bill restoring the supremacy of British over EU law wherever the two conflict, and, to get the ball rolling, declaring that this shall be the case with regard to the United Kingdom's historic, and internationally lawful, fishing rights: 200 miles or to the median line.

This would require neither referendum (a foreign and deeply flawed device) nor renegotiation. And it would go down very well in the Lib Dem fishing strongholds from every seat in Cornwall, round North Norfolk, Berwick-upon-Tweed and North East Fife, to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

But he won't do it.