Battle: Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha leave their vehicle as they arrive at party conference
Πηγή: mailonline
By JAMES CHAPMAN
Oct 3 2011
David Cameron is struggling to contain a rising tide of Tory Euroscepticism after insisting he would not support a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
The Prime Minister said he did want to claw back powers from Brussels, but suggested it would have to wait for negotiations over a new treaty which might be several years away.
He signalled to around 120 Conservative MPs in a new Eurosceptic grouping that the debt crisis engulfing the eurozone and threatening to drag the British economy down must take priority.
‘I don’t want Britain to leave the EU,’ he said. ‘I think it’s the wrong answer for Britain. People in rooms up and down Britain aren’t thinking, gosh, if only we could have a treaty change in Europe.
‘They’re thinking, get the economy moving, get jobs going in this economy. That’s what my leadership’s about, that’s what this conference is all about.’ Ministers appear increasingly concerned that Labour might shift its position and back the idea of an EU referendum. That would put the Tory leadership in a highly awkward position, since the Liberal Democrats promised an ‘in-out’ referendum at the last election.
It emerged yesterday that MPs are to hold a vote on an EU referendum in the next few months. The debate will be triggered by the Government’s new ‘e-petitions’ scheme, which requires MPs to consider topics if 100,000 people demand it.
Rebuttal: William Hague, pictured arriving at the conference, agrees that the public should be denied a referendum at this time
The Commons back-bench business committee is expected to set a date before Christmas for a one-day debate and vote on a referendum on EU membership. Though it will not be binding on the Government, the Prime Minister will come under huge pressure if the vote is carried.
Labour MP Natascha Engel, who chairs the committee, said: ‘The EU today is completely different from the one the British people voted to join in the 1975 referendum. It is time to examine the position again.
‘People in pubs and shops all over Britain are discussing Britain’s membership of the EU and it is time they openly debated it too.’
Tory Dominic Raab, a member of the new ‘euro-realist’ grouping, said if some of the EU’s ‘hare-brained’ ideas for further integration are realised, Britain would have to have a referendum.
But Mr Cameron said: ‘It’s not our view that there should be an in-out referendum.
‘What most people want in this country is not actually to leave the EU, but to reform the EU and make sure that the balance of powers between a country like Britain and Europe is better.’
Mr Cameron said he wanted to fulfil the Tory election pledge of seeking to repatriate some powers from Brussels, but insisted he would not exploit the current crisis in the eurozone to do so.
‘I have been very clear that I think we have given too many powers to Europe. There are some powers I would like to get back. Any future treaty change would be an opportunity to do that, but right now that is not on the immediate agenda.’ The Prime Minister insisted that the collapse of the European single currency would be ‘very bad’ for Britain. ‘I will always defend the British national interest. I think our interest is to be in the EU, because we need that single market. We are a trading nation, it is vital for our economic future.’
Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ’Of course we will look at any motion, but we won’t be in favour of holding now an in-out referendum on Europe.
The Commons back-bench business committee is expected to set a date before Christmas for a one-day debate and vote on a referendum on EU membership. Though it will not be binding on the Government, the Prime Minister will come under huge pressure if the vote is carried.
Labour MP Natascha Engel, who chairs the committee, said: ‘The EU today is completely different from the one the British people voted to join in the 1975 referendum. It is time to examine the position again.
‘People in pubs and shops all over Britain are discussing Britain’s membership of the EU and it is time they openly debated it too.’
Tory Dominic Raab, a member of the new ‘euro-realist’ grouping, said if some of the EU’s ‘hare-brained’ ideas for further integration are realised, Britain would have to have a referendum.
But Mr Cameron said: ‘It’s not our view that there should be an in-out referendum.
‘What most people want in this country is not actually to leave the EU, but to reform the EU and make sure that the balance of powers between a country like Britain and Europe is better.’
Mr Cameron said he wanted to fulfil the Tory election pledge of seeking to repatriate some powers from Brussels, but insisted he would not exploit the current crisis in the eurozone to do so.
‘I have been very clear that I think we have given too many powers to Europe. There are some powers I would like to get back. Any future treaty change would be an opportunity to do that, but right now that is not on the immediate agenda.’ The Prime Minister insisted that the collapse of the European single currency would be ‘very bad’ for Britain. ‘I will always defend the British national interest. I think our interest is to be in the EU, because we need that single market. We are a trading nation, it is vital for our economic future.’
Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ’Of course we will look at any motion, but we won’t be in favour of holding now an in-out referendum on Europe.
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‘At a time of economic difficulty to actually say to people, instead of getting everything growing in our economy, we are going to spend our time on an in-out referendum which will create uncertainty for businesses in Britain – that wouldn’t be a very sensible course of action.’
Mr Hague added: ‘This is a party committed to the return of powers from the EU to the UK. We are constrained by being in a coalition on that subject, but that is something that I still believe in. It may well be one of the dividing lines in the general election.’
The Government appears to have decided to pick one or two fights with Brussels to try to appease Eurosceptic sentiment.
Battle: As is usual in conference season parties sell items, like these mugs, criticising their rivals
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, one of the Cabinet’s arch-Eurosceptics, will today tell the EU that Britain will not accept its latest diktat on welfare tourism, for instance.
‘Let me reassure you, that at a time when the British people are tightening their belts, and the European Commission orders us to open our doors to benefit tourists and pay them benefits when they arrive here, I have a simple message for them: no, no, no,’ he will tell the conference. That is a deliberate echo of Margaret Thatcher, who famously said ‘no, no, no’ to further European integration in the dying days of her premiership.
Last night Mr Duncan Smith said the European Commission’s insistence that Britain pays full out-of-work benefits to new immigrants was ‘madness’ which would cost more than £2.5billion a year.
He revealed he is drumming up support for a retrospective change to EU treaties to prevent Brussels interfering in domestic welfare issues.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, one of the Cabinet’s arch-Eurosceptics, will today tell the EU that Britain will not accept its latest diktat on welfare tourism, for instance.
‘Let me reassure you, that at a time when the British people are tightening their belts, and the European Commission orders us to open our doors to benefit tourists and pay them benefits when they arrive here, I have a simple message for them: no, no, no,’ he will tell the conference. That is a deliberate echo of Margaret Thatcher, who famously said ‘no, no, no’ to further European integration in the dying days of her premiership.
Last night Mr Duncan Smith said the European Commission’s insistence that Britain pays full out-of-work benefits to new immigrants was ‘madness’ which would cost more than £2.5billion a year.
He revealed he is drumming up support for a retrospective change to EU treaties to prevent Brussels interfering in domestic welfare issues.
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