Tories accidentally promise EU referendum

While raging against Labour’s refusal to hold a referendum on the EU treaty, they’ve been very cagey about whether they’d hold one if they win the next election – presumably after the treaty has come into force.

Numerous Tory Europhobes are demanding a retrospective vote as a matter of principle, but David Cameron has been deeply reluctant to concede one, knowing that such a move would take his party into the politically very tricky territory of full-blown renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership.

But yesterday the Tories published a poster as what they must have thought was a jolly jape, apologising for the lack of an election that day and promising that all sorts of wondrous improvements to the country would be “delayed until the election of a Conservative Government”.

One of the things the poster says will follow their election is, yes, “A vote on the European Constitution”. Oops.

Well? Is that a commitment or just an aspiration? Or should we not believe their PR at all?