The decision means the EU referendum will not be held by the rules of a local election, in which EU and Commonwealth citizens can vote.
But the government will face attempts to alter the legislation, with the SNP set to argue that 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed the vote, as they were in the independence referendum in Scotland.
Some of the changes Cameron is aiming to negotiate before supporting a vote to stay in the EU would be distinctly unappealing to migrant workers – such as the Conservative plan to ban European workers from getting work-related benefits until they have been resident for four years. This is despite research showing that, on average, a migrant worker is less likely to claim benefits than a native Briton.
To drum up support for his reforms, Cameron will visit Poland, the Netherlands and Denmark this week. He is hosting Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission at Chequers today, with the date of the referendum a likely topic of discussion. Juncker is said to be keen for a vote to happen as early as 2016.
