There was some comfort to be had despite the ilLibDem surge in the polls last week after leader Nick Clegg's sudden popularity.
The declared "winner" of the first round,in the TV " I can be more boring than you" debate, soon came out and said he would hold a referendum on the EU if his party won the election.
But before anyone starts popping the Champagne corks in celebration that any of the three old parties care what the British people think about this issue, check out
this post from Conservative MEP Dan Hannon
It's good to see some Conservatives care as strongly about this as UKIP . Con MEP Roger Helmer recently blogged about how bad for British business the EU is, something UKIP has been saying for a long time.
Helmer points to an independent two-year study by the Oxcera consulting firm which has found that distressed companies who receive aid from European Institutions have, in some cases, a better chance at failing than those who do not.
"Oxcera took a sampling of 1300 large, struggling Europe-based companies and found that nearly 70% of those who didn't receive government aid were able to weather the storm. Of those who received monetary aid from the European Commission nearly a third had failed, compared to the other two thirds that were now surviving through artificial means," Helmer said.
"The standard EU line on corporate assistance is that it "saves jobs and activities which would otherwise disappear". Government intervention can sometimes be an effective support, in the way wooden stilts can hold up a house. Without a proper foundation, however, that inadequate buttress will only prolong the inevitable."
My own view is that the open door migration policy, which is a result of EU membership, is also bad in that it does give British jobs to foreign workers. This came up in the BBC Radio Lincolnshire debate I took part in last week. Louth and Horncastle, for example, would have had many British landworkers in fields and in factories. These jobs are now filled by EU migrants and they are on the dole. I pointed out that while it is true to say that British people have as much right to work in foreign EU countries, many don't want to and they want to work where they live. They should be given that opporutnity. They will not get it if we stay in the EU.
Whatever the voter's view is on membership of the EU, it is time the issue was put to bed. What have the politicians at Westminster to fear by allowing the British people a say in the matter? In or Out? We should decide. No more spin or lies, please, Mr Clegg, Mr Brown or Mr Cameron. We've had enough.