NATIONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE EU REFERENDUM

That this House notes the Conservative Party's policy to bring forward an in/out referendum in the next parliament, and growing support for such a vote in other UK political parties; further notes that academic research by Durham University and the University of East Anglia suggest that an in/out referendum on EU membership could generate a result in Scotland to stay in and a UK-wide result to exit; believes that the impact of an EU exit would be disastrous on jobs and on the economy; further believes that for any of the four constituent nations of the UK to be taken out of the EU against its wishes would be democratically indefensible; further notes the Prime Minister's description of the UK as a family of nations; and calls on the Government to support a requirement that for the UK to leave the EU, each of the four constituent nations, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, would have to vote to do so, not just the UK as a whole.