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| Michael Gove would vote for Britain to leave the EU | Michael Gove would vote for Britain to leave the EU |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Education Secretary Michael Gove would vote for Britain to leave the EU if there was a referendum today, he has said. | Education Secretary Michael Gove would vote for Britain to leave the EU if there was a referendum today, he has said. |
| He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show "life outside would be perfectly tolerable, we could contemplate it". | He told the BBC's Andrew Marr show "life outside would be perfectly tolerable, we could contemplate it". |
| But he said the best course was to follow David Cameron's plan to renegotiate powers and "lead" the change Europe needed. | But he said the best course was to follow David Cameron's plan to renegotiate powers and "lead" the change Europe needed. |
| And then to put the in/out question to the public in a referendum. | And then to put the in/out question to the public in a referendum. |
| Mr Gove is the most senior Conservative to date to publicly contemplate backing Britain's exit from the EU, although "friends" of the cabinet minister have previously told a newspaper that is where he stands. | |
| On Sunday he said he planned to abstain in a Commons vote next week on a failure to introduce laws guaranteeing a referendum on the issue. | |
| It is thought about 100 backbench MPs could oppose government policy. | |
| "I am not happy with our position in the European Union but my preference is for a change in Britain's relationship with the European Union," said Mr Gove. | |
| "Life outside would be perfectly tolerable, we could contemplate it, there would be certain advantages." | |
| He described the tabling an amendment to the Queen's Speech debate by Tory backbenchers regretting the absence of legislation paving the way for a referendum in the government's plans for the year ahead as "letting off steam". | |
| "My own view is let the prime minister lay out our negotiating strategy, make sure he has a majority, which I am convinced he will secure at the next election, and let's have the referendum then." |