of laws of the United Kingdom, that the ministers and parliamentarians making those laws were not accountable to British voters, that the cost of the EU to the British taxpayer was rising, and that the European Commission was aiming for further powers of economic governance. The campaign claimed that over 6,000 people had already signed the pledge before the official launch, and 30,000 people had signed by 17 March. Daniel Hannan in The Daily Telegraph claimed: "in the first 5 days more than 42,000 people had signed up via the campaign's website and 3,000 more volunteered to help leaflet". The People's Pledge were at launch the only campaign listed in the BBC's "Timeline: Campaigns for a European Union referendum". The launch was accompanied by front-page coverage in support of the campaign by the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Express, headlined 'New Hope to Get Out of EU'. The Daily Express had themselves shortly beforehand delivered a petition to 10 Downing Street calling for an EU referendum, under the Express 'Crusade' banner 'Get Britain Out of the EU'. Commenting in the article, Mark Seddon stated that what differentiated the People's Pledge campaign was that the initiative had come from the left. In response, the then leader of the Labour party Ed Miliband told the paper: "It seems to me that we made a decision on Europe in 1975. I think it was the right decision." Seddon further set out the campaign's objectives in an article for The Daily Telegraph titled "A referendum on Europe is long overdue". Writing for the political magazine The Spectator, Peter Hoskin stated that, while there had been many previous campaigns for such a referendum, the timing of the People's Pledge campaign was slightly more resonant. Hoskin cited the recent positions of the two parties that went on to form the governing coalition in 2010 and polling suggesting 54% of people would prefer to have a referendum on the issue of the EU, instead of the 2011 referendum on the Alternative Vote brought about as part of the coalition agreement and scheduled for 5 May 2011. This would be the first national referendum since the 1975 EU membership referendum. On the campaign's potential, he stated, "at the very least, it might persuade some candidates to face up to, and meet, the tide of public opinion on Europe", claiming that public support for leaving the EU had been