Where we stand on Europe

We will be voting to back the Queen's Speech because of measures to build a stronger economy and fairer society such as cutting National Insurance contributions, reforming pensions and providing affordable childcare.

Repairing the economy is made harder if we have years of uncertainty because of an ill-defined, protracted renegotiation of Britain's status within the European Union. That will hit growth and it will hit jobs and it's not in the national interest.

In Prime Minister's Questions, Nick Clegg said: "My party has always believed that there should be a referendum on Europe when the rules change, when new things are being asked of the UK within the EU.

"That's what we had in our last manifesto, that's what we have now acted on in Government… giving an absolute legal guarantee in legislation… that when the rules change there will be a referendum."

On past Lib Dem 'in/out' campaign leaflets: This leaflet was from 2008 at the time of the Lisbon Treaty referendum vote. Completely consistent with the manifesto, this was when Britain faced a fundamental change in our relationship with the EU, and therefore we called for an in/out referendum.

Manifesto 2010: "Liberal Democrats remain committed to an in/out referendum the next time a British government signs up for fundamental change in the relationship between the UK and the EU."

Benefits of EU membership

We will always campaign for a strong Britain in a strong Europe because that is in our national interest. 50% of our trade is with the EU and much of our global trade depends on EU free trade agreements creating 3.5m jobs and attracting hundreds of billions of pounds of investment in the UK.

Being party of the EU means we can tackle major challenges that we would not be able to face on our own, for example:

• Maintaining a strong economy, and safeguarding British jobs
• Tackling cross-border crime (such as terrorism, paedophile rings and credit card fraud)
• Tackling climate change

Europe is not perfect and is in need of reform. But pulling out of the EU would risk millions of jobs, leave us vulnerable to crime and terrorism, and weaken our voice in global affairs. It would put our jobs, our safety and our future at risk.