Cameron signals no in-or-out vote on EU membership

LONDON: Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants to change Britain’s relationship with the European Union and that he doesn’t favour an in-or-out referendum now on membership.

“The beating heart of Britain is, we know we need to be in Europe, because we are a trading nation,” Cameron told ITV yesterday. “But we’re not happy with every aspect at the moment – there’s too much interference. People want that to be fixed, they want more of a say. We shouldn’t be frightened to involve the British people in that.”

Opposition leader Ed Miliband said on Sunday that the prime minister’s strategy was “incredibly dangerous,” accusing him of “essentially sleepwalking us toward the exit door from the EU.” In a BBC radio interview, Cameron said a referendum now on leaving would be a “false choice,” and that he was “optimistic” other member countries would agree to changes to the UK’s relationship with the bloc.

Cameron, who is set to make a key speech on EU membership later this month, is under pressure from some members of his Conservative party to call a referendum on pulling out of the EU. The government’s language on Europe has hardened in recent days, with Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne telling Germany’s Die Welt newspaper in an interview published on Friday that the 27-nation bloc would need to change if Britain was to remain a member.

Lawmakers from Fresh Start, a group of euroskeptic Conservative members of parliament, would call for EU treaty changes to help reset a range of powers covering crime, justice and policing, the Sunday Telegraph said, citing a copy of a report to be published later this week.

“It does need to change and it is changing,” Cameron said yesterday.

A ComRes poll published by the Sunday People newspaper showed the UK Independence party, which seeks Britain’s exit from the EU, with 23% support, more than double the share of the vote they received in 2009. – Bloomberg