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| William Hague likely to vote to stay in EU | William Hague likely to vote to stay in EU |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| William Hague, the Conservative former foreign secretary, has declared that he is minded to vote for Britain to remain in the European Union partly because he fears “Brexit” could lead to the breakup of the UK. | William Hague, the Conservative former foreign secretary, has declared that he is minded to vote for Britain to remain in the European Union partly because he fears “Brexit” could lead to the breakup of the UK. |
| In his regular column in the Daily Telegraph, Hague said he still believed that the EU was “remote, expensive and over-regulating” but that he was swayed by his concern that Britain leaving would weaken the EU and lead to Scotland voting for independence from the rest of the UK. | In his regular column in the Daily Telegraph, Hague said he still believed that the EU was “remote, expensive and over-regulating” but that he was swayed by his concern that Britain leaving would weaken the EU and lead to Scotland voting for independence from the rest of the UK. |
| “To end up destroying the United Kingdom and gravely weakening the European Union would not be a very clever day’s work,” said Hague, who as party leader in 2001 put Euroscepticism and opposition to the single currency at the centre of his election campaign. | “To end up destroying the United Kingdom and gravely weakening the European Union would not be a very clever day’s work,” said Hague, who as party leader in 2001 put Euroscepticism and opposition to the single currency at the centre of his election campaign. |
| “So, even as a longstanding critic of so much of that struggling organisation, I am unlikely in 2016 to vote to leave it.” | “So, even as a longstanding critic of so much of that struggling organisation, I am unlikely in 2016 to vote to leave it.” |
| Hague, who now sits in the House of Lords, is respected by Conservative Eurosceptics, even though his hostility to the EU seemed to moderate during his four years as foreign secretary. | Hague, who now sits in the House of Lords, is respected by Conservative Eurosceptics, even though his hostility to the EU seemed to moderate during his four years as foreign secretary. |
| No 10 has been worried that those in favour of leaving the EU have been dominating the referendum debate, because the government will not fully commit itself until after its renegotiation is over. Hague’s intervention follows calls from Sir John Major last week for Britain to remain in the EU and it appears to be part of a coordinated attempt to get heavyweight, Eurosceptic-leaning Tories to speak out in favour of Britain remaining in. | No 10 has been worried that those in favour of leaving the EU have been dominating the referendum debate, because the government will not fully commit itself until after its renegotiation is over. Hague’s intervention follows calls from Sir John Major last week for Britain to remain in the EU and it appears to be part of a coordinated attempt to get heavyweight, Eurosceptic-leaning Tories to speak out in favour of Britain remaining in. |
| Hague said that, for all its faults, the EU played a valuable role in helping the new eastern European and Balkan countries embrace democracy and that it would be wrong to weaken it. | Hague said that, for all its faults, the EU played a valuable role in helping the new eastern European and Balkan countries embrace democracy and that it would be wrong to weaken it. |
| “If the countries of the western Balkans are shut out of European institutions, their festering divisions will create one crisis after another, on our own continent, of political turmoil, economic failure and uncontrolled migration. We still need the EU to provide the safe harbour for the docking of fragile democracies, and it would be strange to champion that idea but abandon it ourselves,” he wrote. | “If the countries of the western Balkans are shut out of European institutions, their festering divisions will create one crisis after another, on our own continent, of political turmoil, economic failure and uncontrolled migration. We still need the EU to provide the safe harbour for the docking of fragile democracies, and it would be strange to champion that idea but abandon it ourselves,” he wrote. |
| “There is no doubt that without the UK, the EU would be weaker. It would lose the fifth largest economy of the world, the continent’s greatest centre of finance, and one of its only two respected military powers. We will have to ask, disliking so many aspects of it as we do, whether we really want to weaken it.” | “There is no doubt that without the UK, the EU would be weaker. It would lose the fifth largest economy of the world, the continent’s greatest centre of finance, and one of its only two respected military powers. We will have to ask, disliking so many aspects of it as we do, whether we really want to weaken it.” |
| Hague said that if Britain voted to leave the EU, Scotland would have the excuse for a second independence referendum, “and the result of it could well be too close to call”. | Hague said that if Britain voted to leave the EU, Scotland would have the excuse for a second independence referendum, “and the result of it could well be too close to call”. |
| But Hague also used the article to express his reservations about the EU. The commission, “the best-performing of the EU institutions”, spent too much money, he said. The European court of justice suffered from a “detachment from reality” and the European parliament did not provide democratic accountability because its elections were not taken seriously and its MEPs were effectively anonymous. | But Hague also used the article to express his reservations about the EU. The commission, “the best-performing of the EU institutions”, spent too much money, he said. The European court of justice suffered from a “detachment from reality” and the European parliament did not provide democratic accountability because its elections were not taken seriously and its MEPs were effectively anonymous. |
| Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s spokesman on Europe, said Hague’s column read like “a desperate begging letter on behalf of a Tory government that is only now realising just how dangerously close it has brought the UK to leaving the EU”. | |
| He added: “While it is welcome progress to see senior Tories finally ceding that it would be completely unacceptable for Scotland to be dragged out of the European Union against its will, we still have no answers as to how they will ensure this does not happen.” | |
| Meanwhile, Mark Field, one of several Conservative party vice-chairmen, urged David Cameron not to allow ministers a free vote on the EU referendum. Speaking to the Telegraph, Field said that ministers who wanted to speak out in favour of leaving the EU should resign and make their case openly – and stop “undermining” Cameron with unattributable briefings. | Meanwhile, Mark Field, one of several Conservative party vice-chairmen, urged David Cameron not to allow ministers a free vote on the EU referendum. Speaking to the Telegraph, Field said that ministers who wanted to speak out in favour of leaving the EU should resign and make their case openly – and stop “undermining” Cameron with unattributable briefings. |
| “I have the greatest respect for all those in my party who believe we should leave the EU, but clearly such a position is incompatible with holding a ministerial office in advance of the referendum,” Field said. | “I have the greatest respect for all those in my party who believe we should leave the EU, but clearly such a position is incompatible with holding a ministerial office in advance of the referendum,” Field said. |
| “What I don’t accept is individual ministers believing they should publicly have a free rein or that they can, in an off-the-record way, spend the next few months undermining the prime minister’s package of renegotiation. That is quite wrong.” | “What I don’t accept is individual ministers believing they should publicly have a free rein or that they can, in an off-the-record way, spend the next few months undermining the prime minister’s package of renegotiation. That is quite wrong.” |
| A Downing Street source dismissed a story in the Sun claiming that ministers had been assured privately that they would be allowed a free vote. | A Downing Street source dismissed a story in the Sun claiming that ministers had been assured privately that they would be allowed a free vote. |
| The source said collective responsibility applied while the EU renegotiation was still going on and that the prime minister would not take a decision on whether to allow ministers to campaign to leave the EU, or whether to insist on them all backing the government’s position, until after the renegotiation was over. | The source said collective responsibility applied while the EU renegotiation was still going on and that the prime minister would not take a decision on whether to allow ministers to campaign to leave the EU, or whether to insist on them all backing the government’s position, until after the renegotiation was over. |