PM pledges new EU referendum bid after Lords failure

David Cameron has threatened to use the Parliament Act to force through plans for an in-out referendum on European Union membership after legislation failed in the House of Lords.

The Prime Minister blamed Labour and the Liberal Democrats for the failure of the bill, and insisted the Tories would make another attempt to turn the referendum pledge into a law.

"Today the Labour Party in the House of Lords voted to block our Bill that would have ensured a referendum on Britain's EU membership by the end of 2017," the Prime Minister said.

"This is disappointing news for all of us, but we are not going to give up in our efforts to turn our referendum commitment into law. Far from it.

"After all, we succeeded in passing it through the House of Commons - a huge achievement.

"We are going to try to re-introduce the same Bill in the next session of Parliament and, if necessary, rely on the provisions in the Parliament Act to stop Labour and Liberal Democrat peers killing the Bill once again."