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Ed Miliband: "The Conservative government offers... an all consuming and damaging obsession with whether we should leave the EU"
A future Labour government would not call an in/out referendum on the UK's membership of the EU unless it was being asked to transfer more powers to Brussels, Ed Miliband has said.
In a speech in London, the Labour leader said there was an "overwhelming economic case" for EU membership.
But he said he did not back an "inexorable" process of political union, and change was needed in the EU.
Prime Minister David Cameron said only his party would "guarantee" a vote.
How EU referendum policies compare
- UKIP: An immediate referendum on whether the UK should be in or out of the European Union
- Conservatives: Renegotiate terms of UK membership with referendum on whether the UK should be in or out of the EU in 2017
- Labour: A referendum on whether the UK should be in or out of the EU only if there is a proposed transfer of more powers from London to Brussels
- Lib Dems: A referendum will be needed to approve any further "significant" transfer of powers from London to Brussels
Labour has previously backed holding a referendum if it is proposed that further powers are transferred to Brussels.
But the Labour leader has now clarified that this would be an in/out referendum.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Miliband's policy was essentially a "compromise" between those in the party who did not want a future government to be "distracted" by the issue of Europe and those who argue that Labour cannot be seen as a "party of elites" setting their face against a vote on the issue in any circumstances.
'Hugely excited'Speaking at the London Business School, Mr Miliband said the UK was "being dragged to the exit door" under David Cameron and he was setting out a "clear lead" about when he believed a referendum would be appropriate.
"I am announcing that the next Labour government will legislate for a new lock.
"Not simply a referendum on any treaty change proposing a transfer of power, because there have been too many referenda like that in other countries which have been ignored, but a lock that guarantees that there will be no transfer of powers without an in-out referendum without a clear choice about whether Britain stays in the EU."
"Start Quote
End QuoteThis is a promise of reform and a referendum but not, as they used to say in Star Trek, 'as we know it'"
He also criticised Mr Cameron's promise of an in/out referendum in 2017, which he described as an "arbitrary timetable" ensuring that "a Conservative government would be dominated by an all-consuming and damaging obsession within his party about whether Britain should leave the EU".
Mr Miliband argued that reforms were required in the EU, including:
- completing the single market in energy, services and the digital economy
- lengthening the transitional period during which restrictions can be curbed on immigration from new member states
- making it easier to deport recent immigrants who have broken the law
But these reforms could be achieved without a new treaty, he argued.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC that Labour's position was a "guarantee of a referendum in certain circumstances" rather than on the "arbitrary timetable" set out by the Conservatives.
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While it was "unlikely" that a future Labour government would agree to transfer powers to Brussels during the next Parliament, it was not "impossible" given the uncertainty over the future direction of the eurozone.
The pro-European Labour peer and former cabinet minister Peter Mandelson, who is also a former European commissioner, said there was "strong potential consensus" across the EU for the sort of reforms Mr Miliband was proposing.
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He told Radio 4's Today programme that Mr Miliband was neither ruling out a referendum nor "making an arbitrary commitment" to holding one, which he believed was the right position.
"Don't have a referendum just for the sake of having one," Lord Mandelson added.
"It would bring huge damage, a risk to investment and to our economy."
But Labour MP Keith Vaz said: "I'm very happy. It's hugely exciting because this is the first time a Labour leader has said the words 'in/out referendum'.
"They're only a few words but they're very important.
"There's such a move towards federalism within the EU that it's inevitable there will be some kind of transfer of power which means this referendum will happen, even if Ed Miliband seems to think it's unlikely at the moment."
'No sense'But David Cameron said Labour's position made "no sense whatsoever" and reflected the party's "we know best" approach to politics.
"It is not a proposal for an in-out referendum," he said.
"The British people now have a very, very clear choice. At the next election they can elect a Conservative government that will renegotiate Britain's position in Europe and give people a guaranteed in-out referendum by the end of 2017.
"If they get a Labour government, they will get no referendum, no choice, no reform, nothing. It couldn't be clearer."
The coalition has already enshrined in law a so-called referendum lock, promising a vote on whether to transfer further powers to Brussels if the situation arises - but not on whether to leave the EU.
Conservative attempts to legislate for an in/out referendum in 2017 have been thwarted by the Liberal Democrats, which party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg describes as "Britain's only party of in".
'Welcome'In January 2013, Mr Cameron pledged that a future Conservative majority government would renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU and then give British people the "simple choice" between staying in under those new terms, or leaving the EU.
UKIP said Mr Miliband had put "himself squarely on the side of the Westminster elite and against the British public".
"He won't support policies to control immigration and now he won't even allow people a vote to take back self-government and the power to control immigration," its leader Nigel Farage said.
But the CBI said it welcomed Labour's clarification of its position and its call for the UK to build alliances to press for reforms to the EU.
"The CBI strongly supports Ed Miliband's view that we are better off in a reformed EU than outside with no influence," it said.
"Calling a referendum is a matter for politicians to decide. But business believes that future investment, growth and jobs depend on the UK being part of a competitive and outward-looking EU."
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