Europe, what to do?

Now that the Labour Party conference has finished, the spotlight will turn on the Tories. But the beam of light will be shining at midday on Saturday, rather than on Sunday when the conference begins.

At noon-ish, the Irish referendum result will be announced and the likelihood is that it will be yes, which is a great shame. I would have liked the Irish to say "no means no", but the scare tactics of the yes camp seems to have worked.

David Cameron will then be faced with the problem of what to do with his sentence "We will not let matter's rest". What does it mean? If he doesn't spell it out, it will cast a shadow over the whole conference - and he won't want that.

There's several things he could do, all of them difficult.

1. He could say that it's unfortunately a done deal. There's not much that can be done, but he will be make sure that there are soon negotiations on a new treaty which will repatriate some powers.

2. He could announce a referendum on a package of measures he wants to put forward to the EU. He may then have the backing of the public to go to the EU for some repatriation of powers.

3. He could say that he will enshrine in law that any future EU treaty will need a referendum to be passed in the UK.

4. He could make a British written constitution enshrining that referenda are needed to pass EU treaties.

5. He could go deliberately obstructive. He could threaten to withhold funds until the accounts are signed off and he gets a treaty to reduce the EU powers.

6. He could continue with a referendum on Lisbon, and then renegotiate our EU position. Effectively being out of the EU.

7. He could propose a referendum on associate membership of the EU. Taking us back to the single European Act.

8. He could propose complete withdrawal.

All of these are very difficult and electorally dangerous. I think options 1 to 3 are viable, option 4 fills me with dread. Trying to create a new constitution is extremely difficult. 5 just looks petulant. 6 to 8 are extremely problematic, possibly an election loser.

Wouldn't want to be in DC's position this weekend.

Squiffy.