CONSERVATIVE proposals for an in/out referendum on EU membership are "lighting a fire" under the 28-member organisation, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, has boasted to MPs.
His outburst, in keeping with the increasingly ramped-up rhetoric of the Conservative leadership on Europe, came as Ukip leader Nigel Farage claimed next month's Rochester by-election was the most significant since the contest in 1982 for Glasgow Hillhead.
Then, Roy Jenkins took the Scottish seat, which had been held by the Tories since 1918, and secured a major breakthrough for the SDP, which only a year earlier had been formed after a break from Labour.
"It's the most important by-election in British politics in over 30 years," declared Mr Farage, who is hoping Tory defector Mark Reckless retains the seat for the anti-EU party; a result that would pile the pressure on David Cameron over his EU stance.
At Westminster, the Tories resurrected the EU Referendum Bill, which seeks to entrench in law their leader's promise to hold a poll on the UK's membership by 2017. It is opposed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats and earlier this year was blocked in the House of Lords.
Tory backbencher Bob Neill, who introduced the Bill, said: "It's about giving the British people a choice about something, which is fundamental to our constitutional arrangements and it is fundamental to our future."
While the Bill comfortably overcame its first parliamentary hurdle by 283 votes to nil, legislative time and the prospect of more opposition in the Lords means it is unlikely to become law.
But in his speech to MPs, Mr Hammond said: "We are lighting a fire under the European Union by this piece of legislation."
Ukip's Douglas Carswell, the newly elected MP for Clacton, using his first speech since being re-elected, insisted Mr Cameron's keynote speech 18 months ago about holding an in/out referendum was "merely smoke and mirrors".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article