Barely has the dust settled on the general election ballot boxes and a new campaign gets under way: to determine how we vote in next year's poll on the EU constitution, Britain's first nationwide referendum for over 30 years.
The no campaign – a cross-party grouping which includes the Greens, dissident Labour MPs, a former ambassador and a range of business executives – is first out of the blocks, launching its campaign today. Well, a pamphlet anyway.
Unlike in France, where a knife-edge vote is expected at the end of the month, the antis, many of whom campaigned against the single currency too, are starting well in the lead, according to the polls.
Although the no leaflet makes much of the "millions of pounds of taxpayers' money" being spent by the EU "to frighten voters" into signing up to the treaty, the yes campaign has complained that the antis have failed to publish a full list of their donors.
Today's campaign features smiley pictures of attractive "punters" (the no campaign launced a "Bridget Jones" offensive last year, with a stylish cinema ad targeting young, female swing voters) as well as politicians like Kate Hoey and Caroline Lucas MEP. They've also clearly taken a leaf out of the Tory tacticians' handbook, with a sidebar on the "government's spin machine", complete with pictures of Peter Mandelson and Alastair Campbell looking suitably shifty.
