Noble(?) Lib/Dems to vote against Referendum?

The following is the lead from today's Open Europe Press Summary: Lib Dems to vote against a referendum in the Lords? Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is thinking about abandoning his policy of abstaining on any Lisbon Treaty referendum vote, according to Lord McNally, leader of the Lib Dem peers. This emerged yesterday in a Lords debate when, asked about the Lib Dem position, McNally said, "My Lords, on 1 April [the Second reading of the Treaty in the Lords], probably the best day of the year to have such a debate, I will explain in full and take the noble Lord step by step through Liberal Democrat thinking on this matter." TheyWorkForYou Comment: If the Liberal Democrats can't say how they are going to vote in the Lords that can only mean one thing: they are not going to have a three line whip to abstain as they did in the Commons, but will allow their peers to vote against a referendum. This would be total hypocrisy. Indeed, since the Commons vote various Lib Dem MPs (e.g. Harvey, Cable) have argued that it did not matter that they abstained because their votes were not enough to make a difference. This is a rather bogus argument anyway, because more Labour MPs would have rebelled if the Lib Dems had kept their promise. Nonetheless, what is absolutely clear is that how the Lib Dems vote in the Lords will decide whether there is a referendum or not. Journalists should now be asking the Lib Dems: how can it be right to do one thing in the Commons and something completely different in the Lords? How much longer is Clegg going allow himself to be pushed around by Shirley Williams?