Earlier in the day, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones, First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster and Northern Irish Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness expressed concern that a referendum campaign might run in parallel with the May 5 elections in the respective regions, urging Cameron not to hold EU referendum in June.
"I do respect the former first minister of Scotland [Alex Salmond] who said six weeks was what was necessary. I also respect the electorates of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on the basis that I think people are perfectly capable of making up their minds in a local election or in a Scottish Parliamentary election or in a Welsh Assembly election and then a period of some weeks afterwards making up their mind all over again on the vital question of the European Union," Cameron stated at Prime Minister’s Questions.
Cameron vowed to hold a referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union by the end of 2017. Ahead of the vote, Cameron is seeking to revise the terms of UK’s membership of the bloc.
The prime minister has outlined four demands to the European Union, including shifting power away from Brussels back to the UK national legislature, exempting Britain from the EU "superstate" principle, denouncing the euro as a single official EU currency, and protecting the UK economy by keeping eurozone members away from the non-eurozone countries’ affairs.
