EU deal: what we know, what we don't yet know and what happens next
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Version 0 of 1. A little after 9pm on Friday David Cameron confirmed that EU leaders had agreed to renegotiated terms for Britain’s membership of the organisation, paving the way for the UK’s long-trailed referendum. If you’re just waking up, here are all the overnight developments from Brussels and London. What we know The prime minister claimed victory and pledged to campaign with “all my heart and soul” to keep Britain inside the EU after a deal was struck on Friday evening to redraw the terms of the UK’s membership. Leaders of the other 27 member nations agreed to a deal that will result in: What we don’t yet know Michael is one of my oldest and closest friends but he has wanted to get Britain to pull out of the EU for about 30 years. So of course I am disappointed that we are not going to be on the same side as we have this vital argument about our country’s future. I am disappointed but I am not surprised. What happens next Cameron has summoned his cabinet to a meeting on Saturday morning – reportedly the first time the cabinet has met on a Saturday since the Falklands war. The prime minister will announce that the government endorses the deal and will campaign for the UK to stay in the EU – but this lets off the leash those members of the cabinet who oppose membership and will now be free to campaign for a no vote. The media reaction A round-up of views from the mediashows, as you might well have anticipated, that opinion is very much divided on the scale/nature/existence of Cameron’s achievement in Brussels. The Guardian The don’t-knows are likely to care a lot about the outcome that was confirmed on Friday and are right to do so. Their verdict will move votes one way or another. The fact that Mr Cameron, one of the few politicians with positive ratings, is recommending it may weigh with them too … Mr Cameron did not need to take the route he has taken on Europe in the first place. The whole renegotiation was a gambling of Britain’s place in Europe in the case of Tory party management. But, having embarked on it, he has delivered a package that those who have not made up their minds should take very seriously indeed. The Times [David Cameron] wants, he says, a “live-and-let-live” Europe. This at least captures the essence of a Europe in which Britain could be socially comfortable and an engine of prosperity without chafing under unsolicited red tape and undemocratic laws. A live-and-let-live Europe is what Mr Cameron promised along with a referendum. His problem, and Britain’s, is that he has not delivered it. He has hitched himself instead to a Europe whose eastern members remain determined to keep access to the British labour market on favourable terms, and in which France resents the dominance of the City and wants to cut it down to size. Read it in full here. The Telegraph The EU is arcane and sclerotic – and the events of the past few days have proved it. It cannot adapt to suit changing circumstances or to meet the demands of political crises. Now the British voters have their chance to pass a verdict not only on this deal but the entire European project. Hopefully the pro-EU and Brexit activists will rise to the occasion, offering a campaign rooted in facts and reason rather than fear mongering. Britain has an opportunity, finally, to take its destiny into its own hands. Whatever people might think of the strengths and weaknesses of this deal, Mr Cameron deserves credit for giving us that much. Read it in full here. The Daily Mail One thing is clear. Nothing agreed in Brussels will tempt a single voter to cross from the Out to the In camp (though it may swing some people the other way). Nor will these renegotiations begin to serve the cynical purpose for which Mr Cameron embarked on them. For far from healing the Tory Party’s age-old rift over Europe, it promises only to increase the bitterness. Indeed, the prime minister comes out of this sorry saga badly wounded, just eight months after his surprise election triumph made him look all but invincible on the domestic political battleground. But it is not too late for him to redeem himself. He should tell voters, humbly and frankly, that he has tried hard but failed to secure a deal worth having. Read it in full here. |