The British government tried to wriggle out of taking sides on the implications of the French and Dutch votes by saying that it would suspend its own plans for a referendum, but not cancel it outright. But if the government thought that this mid-way position would finesse its European predicament by appeasing the large anti-European majority in the UK without gratuitously offending the EU’s other members, it was quickly disabused.
英国政府则是尽力避免在法、荷两国表决的基础上表态，而只是说要搁置而不会取消全民公决的计划。但如果英国政府认为这一中庸立场能够安抚国内为数众多的反欧洲势力而又不用无谓地得罪欧盟的其他成员国，那么它很快就会发现这个如意算盘打错了。