by Tory MP Peter Bone as "unprecedented manipulation of backbench business". The newspapers reported that the change of date was "designed to undermine a mass lobby organised by the People's Pledge campaign for an EU referendum. The organisation was hoping thousands of supporters would be at Westminster next Thursday". In light of the change of date the Conservative MP David Nuttall asked whether the "Government will recompense anyone who planned to attend a lobby of Parliament next Thursday, organised by the People's Pledge, but have now had to reorganise their travel plans as a result of the rescheduling of Government business?" In a letter circulated to all MPs on the day of the vote, the Conservative MP Steve Baker claimed the public appetite for the vote could be seen with the strength of support in each constituency for the People's Pledge campaign and the number of supporters that attended the Congress for an EU Referendum on Saturday 22 October. Local referendums The campaign announced at a press conference in London that they would be holding local referendums around the country. The first would be in April, a further ten in 2012 and 100 more in 2013. They were to be overseen by the independent Electoral Reform Services Ltd. The Morning Star, which ran the referendum announcement on the front page, stated "every constituency chosen for a referendum would see door-to-door canvassing, posters, leaflets and media debate. It would be a full by-election-style campaign." The prominent website ConservativeHome stated, "under present boundaries, each seat represents about 70,000 constituents, and therefore to get 10,000 voters (or more) in each seat would be a very ambitious task. To add to the enormity of the project, it should be remembered that there is no precedent for a grassroots campaign holding seat-by-seat referendums." At the press conference attended by Keith Vaz, Douglas Carswell and Natascha Engel, communications director Ian McKenzie announced the 1-10-100 campaign plan. This would see more than 100 local referendums take place over the next year, making it the most ambitious grassroots campaign ever undertaken in Britain. Writing in The Guardian Natascha Engel the day before the referendum announcement she said "the People's Pledge hopes to trigger the biggest grassroots campaign for an EU referendum we've ever seen in this country. Real voters will be voting for a say on our relationship with Europe." Douglas Carswell at the press conference urged all