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Town Twinning 2014 Co-funded by the Europe for Citizens Programme of the European Union.

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Mr Hammond said Brussels will not be able to extinguish demands for a vote Foreign Secretary claimed the EU has become a 'putative superstate' He said 'politicians do not have the power to stop' UK bid to return power

By Tom McTague, Deputy Political Editor for MailOnline

Published: 07:18 EST, 17 October 2014 | Updated: 09:52 EST, 17 October 2014

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the EU is now a 'putative superstate'

Britain is 'lighting a fire under the European Union' by pledging an in-out referendum, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said today.

Mr Hammond said Brussels would not be able to extinguish public demands for a vote on Britain's membership of the EU following the Prime Minister's pledge to hold a referendum by 2017.

The Foreign Secretary, who remarks are among the most Eurosceptic ever made by a serving Cabinet minister, added that the EU has become a 'putative superstate' without Britain's say-so.

Mr Hammond's claim came in a Commons debate today on a Tory bid to guarantee an EU referendum in law after the next election.

He told the House that the issue was 'surely the most important strategic question facing this country', adding: 'We are lighting a fire under the European Union by this piece of legislation.

'We are setting off a process that politicians and governments do not have the power to stop.'

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UK 'lighting a fire under the European Union' boasts Philip Hammond

We need to settle this once and for all for the sake of Britain, he said.

"It is right that the British people should make the decision on whether the United Kingdom stays in the European Union or leaves altogether just as it was right that the Scottish people made the decision about their future in the UK.

"Every poll shows that whatever their view on the answer to that question the overwhelming majority want the right to decide.

"In the 41 years since the United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community, in the 39 years since we last had a referendum on Europe, the EU has changed profoundly.

"It has grown enormously in its power and its reach. It's grown in its competences, its legislation has spread and the role of the European Parliament has increased almost beyond recognition at the expense of the other European institutions.

"It has morphed from a common market into a putative superstate.

"Put plainly, Europe today is very different from the Europe people voted for in 1975 and yet the British people have never been asked whether they agreed with any of these changes.

"So it should be no surprise to us that democratic support for the EU is fragile to put it diplomatically. Ever closer union has led to ever greater disillusionment."

Mr Hammond added: "This is surely the most important strategic question facing this country today - the future of our relationship with the European Union. And it is a question on which we should trust the instincts of the British people."

Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said there was no appetite in Europe for the reforms Mr Cameron wants, which he said would require treaty change.

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Britain is 'lighting a fire' under the European Union, says Philip Hammond

Plans for a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU have cleared their first hurdle in the Commons by 283 to 0, majority 283.

The Conservatives turned out in force to ensure the European Union (Referendum) Bill won a second reading - for the second time, after an identical backbench Bill failed in the Lords earlier this year despite being agreed by MPs.

Bob Neill, MP for Bromley and Chislehurst, moved the Private Member's Bill and saw it agreed by the massive majority after the Tories staged a division by calling both aye and no.

The Bill, which is opposed by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, faces a tough legislative timetable to make it to the statute book.

Speaking during the Commons debate on the Bill, Mr Neill said: "This Bill is about choice - it's about giving the British people a choice about something which is fundamental to our constitutional arrangements and it is fundamental to our future.

"That choice is important because the future of the arrangements with our neighbours require legitimacy and require consent. It is some 40 years since that consent was last sought - much has changed since and it is fair and reasonable for people to be given that choice again.

"It is about trust, it's about trust in this House and it is about trust in our democratic institutions. It is also, I suggest, a time to put up or shut up. If there are people here who do not believe the British people should be given that choice, then now is the time for them to say so."

He was backed by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who told the Commons: "This is surely the most important strategic question facing this country today - the future of our relationship with the European Union.

"And it is a question on which we should trust the instincts of the British people."

Mr Hammond added: "The ultimate decision of whether to leave or whether to stay should be for the British people.

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'Put up or shut up' on referendum

Brussels/London, Oct 16: An European Union court today struck down the 2006 sanctions slapped on the LTTE by the EU aimed at combating terrorism, but said the assets of the banned Tamil Tigers would remain frozen for now.

The Court of Justice of the European Union ordered the Council of European Union to annul the sanctions imposed on the Sri Lankan group and said their assets should remain frozen "temporarily", according to a statement issued by the court.

The court annulled specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities by the EU with its view of combating terrorism.

The EU had declared the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a terrorist outfit in 2006, following the earlier proscriptions of the USA and Canada. The ban criminalises any activity that could be connected to the LTTE.

The court said the declaration of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in 2006 was based on "imputations derived from the press and the Internet", the statement said.

The court observed that the "Indian authorities cannot be regarded as a reliable source of information since they have adopted a 'biased position' in the conflict between the LTTE and the Government of Sri-Lanka."

It said in a statement that the LTTE is wrong to claim that, in international law, the notions of armed conflict and of terrorism are incompatible. In addition, the court ordered the Council to pay its own costs and the costs of the LTTE.

The Netherlands, the UK and the European Commission were ordered to bear their own respective costs. The court found the current restrictions implemented by the EU inappropriate and gave the now 28-member EU two months to come out with a new restrictive measure against the LTTE, if appropriate.

The court decision will come to effect after three months.

The European Court of Justice is the highest court in the EU in matters of European Union law. The LTTE was engaged in an "armed conflict" with Sri Lankan government forces for nearly-three decade, but were defeated in 2009 following the death of its chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

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EU court lifts 2006 sanction on LTTE, says assets of Tamil Tigers to remain frozen