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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/feb/20/eu-deal-cameron-brussels-plan-cabinet-gove-brexit-live
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| Cameron names referendum date as Gove declares for Brexit – live | Cameron names referendum date as Gove declares for Brexit – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 3.18pm GMT | |
| 15:18 | |
| A good round-up of initial reactions across the European press to the UK-EU agreement is also here, courtesy of Vincenzo Scarpetta, a policy analyst at Open Europe. | |
| Le Figaro’s front page editorial, headlined: ‘The kiss of death’ jumps out: | |
| If Britain remains in the EU on the conditions it has been offered, it kills it. If it leaves, it kills it too…As it is not combined with a project of collective relaunch, the Brussels compromise puts the worm into the fruit. | |
| No-one has reason any longer to bend to the common rules, since one can escape them by means of a little blackmail. | |
| In Italy, Adriana Cerretelli, Brussels correspondent for business daily Il Sole 24 Ore, doesn’t think the deal will change much at all though: | |
| In the end, the agreement arrived – without winners or losers. A deal between opposed weaknesses, shared by both those who want more Europe and those who want less. | |
| Perhaps it wasn’t worth wasting so much time changing something that would change almost nothing. | |
| 3.11pm GMT | |
| 15:11 | |
| From Germany, the Guardian’s Philip Oltermann draws attention to quite a strong comment piece in the newspaper, Die Zeit, where Matthias Krupa offers a damning critique of David Cameron’s strategy: | |
| He [Cameron] evoked the image of cumbersome Brussels bureaucracy because he is feeling the pressure at home. But this Brussels is yesterday’s cliche. | |
| While Aleppo is being bombarded and hundreds of thousands are fleeing their homes, Cameron has forced the EU to spend months engaging with the minutiae of the British benefits system. [...] | |
| The British prime minister isn’t the only one in the EU is questioning the union at the moment. But rarely has a national leader been so shameless in formulating and pursuing his national egotism as Cameron. If others follow his example, the union will not become stronger, but much weaker. | |
| 3.01pm GMT | |
| 15:01 | |
| The odds are strongly in favour of a vote for Britain to stay in the EU - but could change dramatically should Boris Johnson come out on the side to leave, according to the bookmaker, William Hill. | |
| Its Current odds are 2/7 for Britain to remain in the EU, and 5/2 to leave. | |
| Of the three regions in the UK William Hill is currently offering bets on, the odds suggest England, at 9/4, is more likely than Wales, at 3/1, and Scotland, at 6/1, to vote to leave. | |
| 2.58pm GMT | |
| 14:58 | |
| The social media war continues. Here’s a fresh tweet from David Cameron, framing his argument for a vote for Britain to remain in the UK, and linking to his statement earlier following this morning’s cabinet meeting: | |
| On June 23rd, you will decide if Britain is stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. My #EUref statement: https://t.co/sK9kAu567p | |
| 2.55pm GMT | |
| 14:55 | |
| Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, has been framing the negotiations as a success from his country’s point of view. | |
| Dan Nolan reports on a press conference by Orban, who was a key negotiating partner for David Cameron over the past 12 months: | |
| Orbán said “The success of the negotiations is underlined by the fact that Hungarian workers will continue to have access to benefits, free from discrimination. Thanks to the results achieved at the negotiations, they will continue to be eligible for everything that they have paid for to date. | |
| The regulations on foreign workers have also remained unalterable. For those who have taken up employment in Britain and who have families, the negotiating parties have succeeded in ensuring that if their children live in another EU Member State they should be eligible for social benefits adjusted to the standard of living of the country of origin. | |
| Families whose children live in the United Kingdom will be eligible to all the benefits that are available to children in British families. “We have done everything we could; the decision now lies with the British. | |
| 2.48pm GMT | |
| 14:48 | |
| There’s a view emerging in France that David Cameron came out on top during tussles in Brussels, reports Bruce Crumley, who has been looking at reactions for the Guardian | |
| In his own post-agreement comments on Friday French President François Hollande argued that nothing granted to London compromised any EU founding principles. | |
| “There were no exceptions (given) on single market rules, no revisions for treaties, there is no United Kingdom veto for the eurozone” Hollande declared, stressing Paris’ rejection of changes that could lead to The City gaining regulatory breaks or advantages that other European financial centres don’t enjoy,” he said. | |
| Not everyone was buying that claim of firmness, however. In his coverage, Libération’s Brussels’s correspondent Jean Quatremer quoted politicians from EU states criticizing the deal, and warned “concessions envisaged by the 28 (members) to avoid Brexit risk creating a dangerous precedent.” | |
| The story quoted Belgian Socialist Paul Magnette fretting the accord may mark “a potential unraveling” of the EU as other states similarly seek tailored rules. Magnette also spanked Hollande for caving in on fundamental issues he’d pledge to defend. | |
| “(The EU) should have been firm and told London, ‘Political declarations, perhaps, but no engagements that risk reversing European integration. Certainly not’,” Magnette said. | |
| Libération also quoted French centrist European MP Dominique Riquet complaining “the spectacle created by (threatened) Brexit is pathetic… It’s simple after all: if Great Britain doesn’t want to be in, then it’s out!” | |
| That latter view jibed with the majority of reader responses to coverage of the agreement – along with the prevailing sentiment that Cameron got the better of Hollande and other EU leaders. Bernard Monot, an EMP from anti-EU National Front agreed, told le Figaro that based on Cameron’s deal, “Frexit will be pasted from the Brexit model, and we’ll demand the same concessions as the United Kingdom.” | |
| 2.37pm GMT | 2.37pm GMT |
| 14:37 | 14:37 |
| So we’ve got the June 23 date for the referendum confirmed. But what’s it going to face in terms of competion? | So we’ve got the June 23 date for the referendum confirmed. But what’s it going to face in terms of competion? |
| Well, for starters, there’s Glastonbury, which takes place on June 22-26. Make sure you arrange a postal vote as well as putting aside a pair of wellies. | Well, for starters, there’s Glastonbury, which takes place on June 22-26. Make sure you arrange a postal vote as well as putting aside a pair of wellies. |
| Middle class problems - people complaining about the #EUreferendum clashing with Glastonbury | Middle class problems - people complaining about the #EUreferendum clashing with Glastonbury |
| Plus it’s slap bang in the middle of the European Championships, which last from June 10 to July 10. | Plus it’s slap bang in the middle of the European Championships, which last from June 10 to July 10. |
| Whether England or Wales will still be competing that that time is another matter (cough).. | Whether England or Wales will still be competing that that time is another matter (cough).. |
| The EU referendum campaigns have big June opportunity with voters who find football boring! May struggle for attention until late with fans | The EU referendum campaigns have big June opportunity with voters who find football boring! May struggle for attention until late with fans |
| Amazing how many Arsenal supporters like me have been forced to miss the Hull match by need to make sense of Government's European policy | Amazing how many Arsenal supporters like me have been forced to miss the Hull match by need to make sense of Government's European policy |
| 2.05pm GMT | 2.05pm GMT |
| 14:05 | 14:05 |
| It’s doubtful that the reforms reached in Brussels by David Cameron will significantly bring down migration from the rest of the EU, according to the influential think tank, the Institute For Public Policy Research, which has released an analysis. | It’s doubtful that the reforms reached in Brussels by David Cameron will significantly bring down migration from the rest of the EU, according to the influential think tank, the Institute For Public Policy Research, which has released an analysis. |
| IPPR Research Fellow, Marley Morris, adds however: | IPPR Research Fellow, Marley Morris, adds however: |
| Our research suggests that the public care about the issue of benefits in principle, because they see the current rules as unfair on Britain, and so the changes are an important part of the final deal. | Our research suggests that the public care about the issue of benefits in principle, because they see the current rules as unfair on Britain, and so the changes are an important part of the final deal. |
| On the other hand, when discussing the draft deal with some of our research participants in Peterborough, they were unimpressed with the details of the emergency brake - particularly when they discovered that its use had to be authorised by other member states. | On the other hand, when discussing the draft deal with some of our research participants in Peterborough, they were unimpressed with the details of the emergency brake - particularly when they discovered that its use had to be authorised by other member states. |
| The question now is whether, in the public’s mind, these changes will be perceived as a credible effort to address concerns or as too complicated and insubstantial to fully convince. | The question now is whether, in the public’s mind, these changes will be perceived as a credible effort to address concerns or as too complicated and insubstantial to fully convince. |
| 1.52pm GMT | 1.52pm GMT |
| 13:52 | 13:52 |
| Can David Cameron remain as leader and prime minister if the UK votes to leave the EU? | Can David Cameron remain as leader and prime minister if the UK votes to leave the EU? |
| “Yes he can stay, and he must,” Chris Grayling told BBC Radio 4. | “Yes he can stay, and he must,” Chris Grayling told BBC Radio 4. |
| That would put Cameron in the position of having to be at the forefront of renegotiating Britain’s new position outside of Euope, something which he has described as a leap in the dark. Cameron is expected by many commentators to fall on his sword in the even of a vote to leave. | That would put Cameron in the position of having to be at the forefront of renegotiating Britain’s new position outside of Euope, something which he has described as a leap in the dark. Cameron is expected by many commentators to fall on his sword in the even of a vote to leave. |
| Grayling said earlier that it wasn’t a question of not trusting the prime minister’s judgement, insisting that the Conservative Party would not be divided over the coming months. | Grayling said earlier that it wasn’t a question of not trusting the prime minister’s judgement, insisting that the Conservative Party would not be divided over the coming months. |
| “We are friends and colleagues. We are not going to allow this to rip the Conservative party apart,” he added. | “We are friends and colleagues. We are not going to allow this to rip the Conservative party apart,” he added. |
| Here’s a little more of what he said to Mark Mardell on the BBC’s World At One: | Here’s a little more of what he said to Mark Mardell on the BBC’s World At One: |
| 1.40pm GMT | 1.40pm GMT |
| 13:40 | 13:40 |
| Chris Grayling says David Cameron had moved mountains but that there is only “so much change” that the EU is willing to countenance. | Chris Grayling says David Cameron had moved mountains but that there is only “so much change” that the EU is willing to countenance. |
| Speaking to BBC Radio 4 in the last few minutes, the leader of the House of Commons, said that the UK would be bit “part players” if it continued to remain in the EU. | Speaking to BBC Radio 4 in the last few minutes, the leader of the House of Commons, said that the UK would be bit “part players” if it continued to remain in the EU. |
| “There are whole series of key decisions which I think we need to be take in our national interest, and which we have given to the EU,” he added. | “There are whole series of key decisions which I think we need to be take in our national interest, and which we have given to the EU,” he added. |
| He said that he had known for a long time that he would campaign against remaining in the EU, having sat through five years of “frustrating” meetings in Brussels. | He said that he had known for a long time that he would campaign against remaining in the EU, having sat through five years of “frustrating” meetings in Brussels. |
| He instanced new pieces of legislation that he said added extra levels of bureaucracy, health and welfare costs. | He instanced new pieces of legislation that he said added extra levels of bureaucracy, health and welfare costs. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.41pm GMT | at 1.41pm GMT |