Don’t expect EU treaty change says Hammond
Free movement curbs are also off the table, admits minister
TORY calls for Parliament to be given a veto over EU law are ‘completely unrealistic’, the Foreign Secretary warned yesterday.
Philip Hammond played down expectations about what can be achieved in the renegotiation with Brussels, saying the principle of free movement was also off the table, and that other demands may have to be watered down.
Mr Hammond also indicated that Britain may drop its demand for a change in the EU’s treaties in favour of some form of ‘bankable promise’.
And he said efforts to rein in EU red tape on business would be strictly limited, adding: ‘We recognise the EU’s important role in protecting employment rights.’
Robert Oxley, of the Vote Leave campaign, said Mr Hammond appeared to be sounding the retreat on EU reform and focusing on ‘expectation management’.
‘The renegotiation has become nothing more than smokescreen,’ he said. ‘The PM promised a fundamental renegotiation backed by treaty change but that has been abandoned and instead it has taken six months just to write watered-down reforms.
‘The EU isn’t going to hand back control to Britain so the only safe option will be to vote to leave.
Mr Cameron initially said his EU reforms were so wide-ranging they would require ‘full-on treaty change’. But with other EU leaders opposed to treaty change, Mr Hammond yesterday confirmed that the Prime Minister had accepted this will not be achievable.
‘What we will be looking for is bankable promises and commitments that are legally binding,’ he said. ‘But we are very clear a deal, if it’s going to be sellable to the British people, has to be substantial, it has to be binding and it has to be irreversible.’
In the Commons, Mr Hammond was challenged by a succession of Tory MPs over the scope of the negotiations.
Bury North MP David Nuttall said the Prime Minister’s efforts on capping EU migration amounted to ‘some technical changes relating to the right of EU citizens to claim welfare payments’.
Mr Hammond insisted Mr Cameron’s proposals were ‘not merely technical’, but added: ‘The basic principle of freedom of movement to work is not being challenged.’
Fellow Tory John Baron called on Mr Cameron to secure a veto for Parliament on EU law.
But Mr Hammond said efforts in this area would be limited to trying to establish a system where groups of parliaments could club together to block EU regulations. He added: ‘It is completely unrealistic to seek an individual national veto in all areas. A European Union of 28 member states with individual national vetoes simply would not work.’
The rejection of key Tory demands will dismay many senior figures in the party, including London Mayor Boris Johnson, who warned Mr Cameron this month that his renegotiation must produce concessions on free movement and the primacy of parliament.
Alan Johnson, the leader of Labour In For Britain, said last night the in/ out referendum was a ‘distortion of parliamentary democracy’ and simply made the UK look like it was ‘unsure of its place in the world’.
The former Home Secretary warned that if the country voted no, then ‘Britain may vote itself out of existence’, because Scotland could take it as a cue to leave.
‘A distortion of democracy’