article: The vote, which followed the first debate on the EU Referendum Bill, means the legislation moves to the next stage of its progress through Parliament. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said a "generation" had been denied a say on the UK's place in Europe, and the public must now have the "final say". MPs voted by 544 to 53 in favour of the bill. The Conservatives and Labour support the bill, but the SNP opposes it. Earlier, MPs voted to reject an SNP amendment opposing the bill. The bill, which has now passed its second reading and will next be examined by a committee of MPs, has several more stages to pass through. Prime Minister David Cameron, who first promised a referendum in 2013, has pledged to negotiate a "better deal" for the UK in Europe in advance of the vote - to be held by the end of 2017 at the latest. Mr Hammond said a vote - which would be the first on the UK's links with Europe since 1975 - was needed to renew the democratic legitimacy of the UK's relationship with the 28-member body. "We've had referendums on Scottish devolution, referendums on Welsh devolution, referendums on our electoral system and on a regional assembly for the North East," he said. "But an entire generation of British voters has been denied the chance to have a say on our relationship with the European Union. And Mr Speaker, today we are putting that right." You don't need a doctorate in mathematics to work out this was a Commons majority of rather a lot. With 650 MPs in the House of Commons, persuading 84% of them to vote the same way is quite something. In fact, such an achievement the result was held up because of the length of the queue of those wanting to endorse the idea of an EU referendum. How did it happen? Labour campaigned before the general election against the idea of a referendum, saying it would be destabilising. But after what amounted, to them, to be a rather destabilising appointment with the electorate, they have changed their mind in defeat. For some, this vote is something they have campaigned on for as long as they have been at Westminster: a say for the people on our place inside or outside the European Union. For all of us, it is the start of a debate about how we see ourselves, our place in the world and a decision for us each to take, within the next two and a half years. Mr Hammond added: "We need a fundamental change in the way the European Union operates. It is now a union which has at its core a eurozone of 19 members which will integrate more closely together. "There needs to be an explicit recognition those who are not part of that core do not need to pursue ever closer union. There need to be an explicit protection of the interests of those non-eurozone members as the EU goes forward. "We expect to be able to negotiate a new
summary: MPs have overwhelmingly backed plans for a referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union.