FACE THAT SAYS IT ALL
Shambles as embattled PM’s deal is watered down — and Euro MPs threaten to kill it off
DAVID Cameron was ambushed in Brussels last night with demands to further water down his EU referendum deal.
Warning Britain to ‘take it or leave it’, Eastern European leaders insisted curbs on handouts to foreign workers must be phased in gradually.
The Prime Minister had been pleading at a summit in the city for a ‘credible’ package to help him lock Britain into the EU for a ‘generation’. But his counterparts put up a wall of opposition to his plans to limit access to the welfare state.
And, in a further slapdown, they warned any package that is cobbled together will be final – the UK must take it or quit the European Union for good.
The French and the Belgians insisted there could be no second referendum if the UK votes to leave while on a day of drama in Brussels and Westminster:
The president of the European Parliament threatened to wreck the agreement if it is ‘discriminatory’;
A senior Tory official was found to be urging business leaders to sign a letter in support of the deal before it had even been agreed;
A Conservative grassroots leader announced he was quitting the party in protest at Mr Cameron’s handling of the renegotiation;
Tory MPs reacted furiously to the BBC giving Neil Kinnock a ten-minute platform to make scaremongering claims about the dangers of leaving the EU;
It was claimed that a separate letter in support of remaining in the EU would secure the backing of more than 80 FTSE 100 firms;
After the first round of talks, Number 10 aides admitted there were ‘real outstanding issues to resolve’ on curbing migrant benefits, protecting the City of London and securing treaty change.
They said Mr Cameron was prepared to walk away from the summit and try again in a few weeks. This is despite a detailed timetable being in place for him to fly
back to London at lunchtime, hold a Cabinet meeting and announce in Downing Street that the referendum will take place on June 23.
Failing to secure a deal today would leave Mr Cameron facing a scramble to hold his poll before the summer – when the EU migrant crisis is expected to reach its peak.
His draft deal has already been denounced as ‘feeble’ by Tory MPs who say it does not repatriate a single power to Britain or curb mass immigration.
But, at last night’s talks, he came under intense pressure to water it down still further by agreeing not to introduce restrictions on the payment of child benefit to EU workers immediately.
Downing Street insisted Mr Cameron was resisting the demands for a further cave-in. Sources indicated he was looking to toughen his own requirements – asking for a brake that restricts migrants claiming tax credits to last for up to 13 years.
But Eurosceptic MPs said it still seemed that the ‘thin gruel’ on offer to voters appeared to be getting even thinner. They added that, despite the drama in Brussels, the negotiation remained a huge missed opportunity to fundamentally change Britain’s relationship with the EU.
MPs also reacted with fury to news that a senior Tory MP had begun rounding up business leaders to publicly back the deal before it had even been completed.
Ramping up the pressure on Mr Cameron, the French and Belgians made it clear that the British public would be given no second chance to secure a better package.
They demanded that a clause should be written into the draft agreement on Britain’s EU membership that explicitly rules
‘A fundamentally different approach’
out holding a second referendum if the UK votes to leave.
Eurosceptics had argued that, if the UK votes out in the expected June referendum, Brussels might be prepared to return to the table to offer meaningful concessions on issues such as free movement.
During tense talks, expected to run over into today, Mr Cameron last night told his counterparts that his aim now was to secure a package that would be ‘credible’ with the British people.
The PM said: ‘The question of Britain’s place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too long and it is time to deal with it.
‘If we can reach agreement here that is strong enough to persuade the British people to support UK membership of the EU we have the opportunity to settle this issue for a generation.
‘It is an opportunity to move to a fundamentally different approach to our relationship with the EU – what some might call live and let live – reflecting that those states that wish to integrate further can do so while those of us that don’t can be reassured that their interests will be protected.’
Talks began at 5.30pm last night in the hope of reaching a deal on Britain’s EU negotiations early today. Armies of officials were expected to work all night to thrash out the final details.
Mr Cameron faced opposition to his draft deal in four key areas: securing an opt-out for Britain from the EU’s commitment to ‘ever closer union’; securing rules to protect the City from the eurozone countries; curbing welfare payments to migrants and making his changes irreversible by securing treaty change.
Eastern European leaders were demanding yet more changes to the Prime Minister’s plan for an emergency brake on the payment of in-work benefits, such as tax credits, to migrant workers.
Countries such as Poland are fearful that other member states such as Germany might seek to copy the UK’s proposal. Mr Cameron was also struggling to secure agreement that the brake could be put in place for seven years.
In any event, it amounts to only a partial restriction on tax credits – rather than the four-year outright ban promised in the Tory manifesto. On child benefit, Mr Cameron was under intense pressure to phase in his plan to reduce the level of payment made on behalf of youngsters who live abroad. Eastern European countries want it to be phased in over 16 years.
Mr Cameron was resisting in the talks last night, officials said, but he could be forced to compromise to get the deal through and agreed today.
The PM was also facing demands for an exemption from the changes to workers from the republic of Ireland.
Number 10 sources held out the prospect of talks ending today without a deal.
One aide said: ‘There are real outstanding issues to resolve. It is not clear how we do that.’ Another said: ‘If you thought we were on a train track, there are gaps in that track.’
Officials said the other EU leaders had said they wanted to keep Britain in the EU ‘but there was not much sign of that.’
AND so the charade continues. As this paper goes to press, David Cameron’s brave promises of a fundamental reform of the relationship between Britain and the EU seem to be descending into complete farce.
Where once the Prime Minister told us the British lion would ‘roar’ in the face of the EU pussycat, last night’s talks appeared bogged down in minute details and intricacies so complex that only obsessive policy wonks could follow what on earth was being discussed.
So much for any last, lingering pretence that Brussels has the slightest intention of changing anything that would make a real difference.
Indeed, European Parliament President Martin Shultz was blunt enough to say that a deal allowing Britain to impose even modest curbs on migrant benefits would be ripped to shreds by MEPs.
Meanwhile, with the gag on eurosceptic ministers still firmly in place, Conservative Party official Baroness Rock was asking scores of company bosses to endorse any deal that might be agreed.
Stand by, then, for all the usual suspects to come forward, hoping to convert their knighthoods into peerages.
Leave aside that many big business leaders have an appalling record of political misjudgment, and just remember that many of those being approached were enthusiastic advocates of scrapping the pound to join the catastrophic euro.
And what a slap in the face to grassroots Conservatives – most of whom tell pollsters they want to pull out of the EU – that their party is giving leave of absence to Lady Rock (who, surprise, surprise, entertained George Osborne at her Swiss chalet) so that she can campaign for the In camp.
Meanwhile, the BBC issues guidelines telling its reporters they will not be obliged to give equal exposure to both sides at all times, but only to ensure ‘broad balance’. Can anyone who heard Lord Kinnock on Radio 4 yesterday, spouting unchallenged falsehoods about trade figures and the ‘appalling’ dangers of pulling out, believe the Corporation’s employees know the meaning of balance?
This ought to be a full and free debate on one of the most vital issues of our time. Yet before the starting gun has even been fired, there’s a growing stink of an Establishment stitch-up in the air.