No UK referendum on EU this year, says David Cameron

British prime minister David Cameron yesterday said there was only a “pretty slim” chance he could bring forward to 2015 a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU which he wants to hold if he wins a national election in May.

Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe on issues such as immigration and then hold a referendum by 2017, hoping to prevent a rise in eurosceptic sentiment which has pushed some Conservative Party voters towards the anti-EU UK Independence Party.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has said his party would do a deal to allow Cameron to form a government if the election fails to produce a clear winner. However, Farage said the price of such a deal would be a referendum before the end of the year.