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David Cameron to urge business support for EU renegotiation David Cameron urges business to 'get out there' and campaign on EU
(about 7 hours later)
Prime Minister David Cameron is to urge business leaders to back the UK staying in a reformed European Union, in a speech at the World Economic Forum. David Cameron has urged business leaders who want Britain to remain in a reformed EU not to "hold back".
Mr Cameron will hold discussions with political and corporate leaders at the annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland. The PM has told his cabinet colleagues to wait until he returns from Brussels with a reform deal before campaigning to leave or stay in the EU.
He then hopes to finalise a package of reforms at an EU summit next month. But he told an audience of global business leaders they should "get out there" and start making their case now.
Downing Street said a cabinet meeting would be held "soon after" any deal - following concerns a delay could assist the campaign to remain in the EU. He was speaking during a three-day visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr Cameron said he hoped to get agreement on his reform demands at an EU summit next month, paving the way for referendum later this year, but he was in "no hurry" if the deal was not right.
Prospects for a swift agreement were played down by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, who said the negotiations had "only just begun" and warned that a deal "at any price" would not be acceptable.
Mr Cameron said his proposed welfare reforms were "absolutely crucial" to his hopes of getting a reform deal.
But he said he was open to other, "equally potent", welfare curbs if other EU nations refused to accept a four year ban on in-work benefits for new arrivals to the UK.
He said he would continue to push for reforms to the EU in the future even if Britain voted to remain in it - and stressed that he believed the UK could succeed outside the EU, but he said the question was "how will we be the most successful?"
Success in the renegotiation could deliver the UK "the best of both worlds" by allowing it to be within the single market while retaining control of its borders and remaining outside the single currency and the ever-closer union sought by some other member states.
He said it was "a prize worth fighting for" and one "I'm determined to deliver in this, my second term as prime minister" and he issued a plea to businesses and charities to get behind him.
"I would say don't hold back right now, even though the question isn't settled.
"I think that if business backs my reforms, if you want to see the competitive Europe, if you want to see the flexible Europe, if you want to see a Europe where you can be in the eurozone and win or out of the eurozone and win, I would argue 'Get out there and support those things'."
'Democratic support'
Mr Cameron explained why Britain was having a referendum - that it was "drifting away" from the EU and it had become increasingly unpopular with the British public.
He said he wanted to "secure the future of Britain in a reformed European Union" and to do this by securing "full and democratic support" for membership from the public.
Meanwhile, in London, Downing Street said a cabinet meeting would be held "soon after" any deal was agreed - following concerns a delay could assist the campaign to remain in the EU.
Some ministers had raised concerns that a delay to holding a cabinet meeting would give Mr Cameron the opportunity to set out his case for the deal without being challenged.Some ministers had raised concerns that a delay to holding a cabinet meeting would give Mr Cameron the opportunity to set out his case for the deal without being challenged.
However, Number 10 said a cabinet meeting would be held "in good order" after any agreement, but said it could not guarantee a day or time.However, Number 10 said a cabinet meeting would be held "in good order" after any agreement, but said it could not guarantee a day or time.
A referendum on the UK's membership of the EU is due to take place before the end of 2017, but the exact timing of it will hinge on the outcome of Mr Cameron's renegotiation talks.
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Mr Cameron will use a speech during his three-day trip to Davos to move the focus away from benefit curbs on EU migrant workers on to efforts to cut Brussels red tape - another of the four stated aims of his renegotiation.
His official spokeswoman said he would remind business leaders that "many of the reforms we are seeking are things that they have called for" in terms of improving competitiveness.
"How do we make sure that the EU - which we joined for the single market benefits and the benefits to business - continues to work for them and, indeed, work better for them," she said.
Mr Cameron's discussions in Davos are also likely to focus on the growing migrant crisis, with the UK vowing to oppose any move to axe rules requiring refugees to claim asylum in the first EU country they enter.
EU member states have been warned the Schengen passport-free travel zone will collapse if action is not agreed within two months as 2,000 migrants are still arriving daily.
Scrapping the so-called Dublin regulation is among ideas being floated.
The prime minister will attempt to garner support for initiatives to create economic opportunities for Syrian migrants in neighbouring countries such as Jordan to lessen the draw of seeking a new life in Europe.
It comes ahead of a conference on Syria being staged in London next month.
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