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Pressure on David Cameron ahead of EU crisis summit | Pressure on David Cameron ahead of EU crisis summit |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Downing Street says the PM is "very focused" on securing the best deal for the UK - as he attends a key EU summit to tackle the eurozone debt crisis. | |
Germany and France want a new EU treaty and the PM has said he will block one that does not protect UK interests. | |
He says he will seek "safeguards" for UK interests like financial services. | |
But some senior Tories say big changes should be put to a UK referendum - others want him to do more to reshape the UK's relationship with the EU. | |
Mr Cameron has left for Brussels, where EU leaders will discuss plans to try to resolve the crisis - France and Germany are pushing for new EU treaties enshrining stricter fiscal rules for the 17 member states which use the euro. | |
'Useful talks' | |
He has said he will exact "a price" for UK support for any treaty change requiring the support of all 27 EU members and wants safeguards on financial regulation and for the single market, in the event of closer fiscal integration by the eurozone countries. | |
His spokesman would not elaborate on details of the safeguards on Thursday, saying it would be wrong to set out Britain's negotiating position ahead of the summit. | |
But he said Mr Cameron was "very focused on the meeting and the discussions ahead and on getting the best deal for the UK" and had had "useful" talks with the prime ministers of Holland, Sweden and Italy, as well as Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's President Nicolas Sarkozy in recent days. | |
The PM faced calls to show "bulldog spirit" at the summit from his own backbenchers in the Commons on Wednesday. Some have gone further, calling for Mr Cameron to use the opportunity to reshape the UK's relationship with the EU - or put any major changes to a UK referendum. | |
President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel have called for the 17 eurozone countries to have common corporation and financial transaction taxes. | |
But former Conservative leadership candidate David Davis - a Europe minister in John Major's government - said Mr Cameron should not accept any moves by the EU's 17 eurozone states to form their own union or strike a deal without going through all 27 EU states. | |
"The raw politics of this is, if there is a significant change in the balance of power in Europe, it has big implications for our future - that's the point at which you have to have a referendum." | |
Referendum calls | |
Downing Street says any treaty signed by the UK "will need to go through Parliament" but the government says a UK referendum will not be necessary, because the proposed changes would not involve a big shift in power from London to Brussels. | Downing Street says any treaty signed by the UK "will need to go through Parliament" but the government says a UK referendum will not be necessary, because the proposed changes would not involve a big shift in power from London to Brussels. |
But two other senior Conservatives - Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Patterson and Mayor of London Boris Johnson - also suggested there might have to be a referendum, if a new eurozone bloc was created, or the UK was asked to sign up to a new EU treaty involving all 27 member states. | |
Conservative backbencher Bernard Jenkin told the BBC: "I don't underestimate the prime minister and I wish him luck in Brussels today but he could have a win-win-win situation if he said 'I'm sorry, this is such a big change we have got to have a referendum'. | |
"He'd have the Conservatives behind him, the British people want a referendum, the British people want a different relationship with Europe, and he would have a much stronger hand to negotiate in the national interest." | |
However Mr Cameron's received some support from his predecessor as Conservative leader, Lord Howard, who told the BBC he wanted a "rebalancing" of the relationship, but that was an issue for the future. | |
'World would be aghast' | |
He said: "What is pressing at the moment is the need to help the eurozone overcome its crisis, because the world economy is in a very fragile state and a disorderly break-up of the eurozone could bring about an economic catastrophe on a global scale." | |
The Conservative former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, also said that while it was right to look at "relevant" issues to the crisis - like financial regulation - "the rest of the world would be aghast" if Mr Cameron were to use the summit to try to claw back powers in other areas. | |
UK Chancellor George Osborne told a Lords committee the Treasury was planning for "all eventualities": "I am confident that we have got the right plans in place but I should give a fair warning that however much contingency planting you do, the disorderly collapse of the euro would do enormous damage to the British economy at this point." | |
He said he would not allow an EU-wide transactions tax and said there was evidence of attempts to impose unnecessary regulation which could hit the UK's competitiveness - including a "eurozone location policy" which he said could mean some companies with business across the eurozone having to move from London to Paris. | |
Labour leader Ed Miliband says that the UK has been "left on the sidelines" of the EU debate and, having promised his backbenchers a Lady Thatcher-style "handbagging" in Europe, Mr Cameron was now reduced to "hand wringing". | |
Meanwhile, his brother, Labour former foreign secretary David Miliband said Mr Cameron needed to tackle eurosceptics in his party. | Meanwhile, his brother, Labour former foreign secretary David Miliband said Mr Cameron needed to tackle eurosceptics in his party. |
Writing in the Daily Mirror he claimed the growing number "determined to wrench Britain out of the EU" were "the real threat to Britain's national interest". | Writing in the Daily Mirror he claimed the growing number "determined to wrench Britain out of the EU" were "the real threat to Britain's national interest". |