CONSERVATIVE Eurosceptics are to step up pressure on Michael Howard to harden his party’s policy on the European Union after a poll suggesting that the British people — particularly the young — would back a renegotiation of Britain’s membership terms.

A survey by ICM for the European Foundation over the weekend indicated that 58 per cent agreed that Britain should renegotiate EU treaties so that they were reduced to trade and association agreements.

The poll found that 68 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds backed a policy of renegotiation. It also suggested that

63 per cent of professionals and managers backed that policy, which has always been seen as a crucial step towards withdrawal from the EU. Sixty per cent of the skilled working classes supported it.

There were regional variations. Some 63 per cent of people in the South East and 65 per cent in Scotland supported renegotiation, a stance from which Mr Howard has always kept clear.

The poll will enliven the European debate as a Bill to ratify the new European Constitution is announced today in the Queen’s Speech opening the new session of Parliament.

The findings suggest that the Government’s task of winning a referendum, expected in the spring of 2006, is even more difficult than thought.

The findings will be used by senior Eurosceptics to back their case that a hardline renegotiation stance by the Tories would severely weaken support, including among natural Conservative voters, for the United Kingdom Independence Party.

Polls have suggested that Conservative activists would back a tougher stance from the leadership.

But Mr Howard would face a massive internal revolt, reviving memories of divisions in the past two parliaments, if he were to back associate membership.

Last night Conservative MPs were pointing to a poll in The Economist last year which suggested that if the policy of associate membership became explicit Tory policy it could add eight percentage points to their votes in a general election.

More than 1,000 adults were asked between November 19 and 21 whether they agreed or disagreed that Britain should renegotiate the existing EU treaties so that they were reduced to trade and association agreements.

William Cash, MP for Stone and chairman of the European Foundation, said last night: “This is an extremely important poll. It shows that the people of Britain, by a 25-point margin, want the existing European treaties to be renegotiated in a new relationship with the European Union. We cannot ignore its findings.”

In a recent article Mr Cash argued that 60 per cent of laws were now made by the EU. They already affected every aspect of people’s daily lives even before the introduction of the new constitution.

Even if the constitution were rejected in a referendum the problem of the existing treaties would remain and it was essential that they be reformed.

Britain could not confine its renegotiation to foreign aid and the Common Fisheries Policy, Mr Cash wrote. “We must resolve clearly the political structure of Europe itself, returning power to the voter and to Parliament.

“Integration under Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice must be unravelled and the market itself reformed to meet the opportunities of global trade and not be hidebound by the protectionists in Europe.”

He added: “We need, therefore, to commit ourself clearly to associate status and not to integration in a rigid institutional framework.”

ICM interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults aged 18 and over by telephone between November 19 and 21. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council.

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