THE prospects of the EU Referendum Bill reaching the statute book before the election appeared slim last night as party managers signalled that it had been squeezed out of the Government’s timetable.

The Bill seems to have been dropped thanks to a combination of a failure to find up to eight days for MPs to debate it and fears over Tory tactics in the Commons and Lords. With enormous parliamentary time pressures in the run-up to the election, expected in May, senior figures fear that the Conservatives could make it a “Maastricht-style” marathon.

As the Bill concerns a European treaty, its committee stage must take place on the floor of the whole House rather than in a small representative group of MPs. This will limit the time available for key measures such as ID cards and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency.

Although the Conservatives campaigned for the referendum and won a U-turn from Tony Blair over it, Labour party managers fear that the temptation to prolong proceedings will prove too much. A Labour source said: “Any Bill will only get through in this session with the Tories’ agreement. Will they keep it being debated for days and days in the Commons and stop us discussing other issues which are very important to our programme?

“There is a lot of concern about the prospect of wasting days of very limited time on the floor of both Houses. We do not want a Maastricht-style situation in the run-up to the election.”

A leak of the question yesterday brought complaints from the “no” camp because it referred to a “treaty establishing a constitution” rather than simply a constitution.

In line with advice from the Electoral Commission last month, the question is thought to be: “Should the United Kingdom approve the treaty establishing a constitution for the European Union?”

But the final version, which has yet to be agreed by the Cabinet, is not likely to be known until it is published in the Bill in late January.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman yesterday said: “The question will be simple, straightforward. There is a form of words that is being finalised.”

Lucy Powell, campaign director at Britain in Europe, a pro-European lobby group, described the proposed question as straightforward. She added: “Opponents try and claim the public will be duped by the Government but by the time people go into the polling stations there will have been, hopefully, clear and well-run campaigns on the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ sides. People will not make up their minds one way or another on the wording of the question.”

Neil O’Brien, of Vote No, said: “We would prefer it if it said ‘European Constitution’ rather than the long-winded ‘treaty to establish an EU constitution’.”

Gordon Brown said yesterday that the Government could win a referendum on the EU constitution if it persuaded people that it was in Britain’s interests and that the EU was modernising. He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “People will become convinced that the idea that we should detach ourselves from Europe at this stage . . . is not the best way forward for the British economy.”

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