Gove Out as EU agrees deal
Cameron poised to call referendum as leaders finally offer late-night benefits compromise
DAVID CAMERON said last night that he would campaign “heart and soul” for Britain to stay in the European Union after negotiating a new deal with Brussels but expressed “disappointment” that one of his key Cabinet allies will back a Brexit.
Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, and one of Mr Cameron’s closest allies, will vote for Britain to leave the EU despite his personal loyalties to Mr Cameron.
It will intensify speculation that Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, could also declare that he intends to campaign to leave the EU.
Mr Gove’s position emerged as the Prime Minister was forced to make significant concessions to his plans to curb migrant benefits after significant opposition from eastern European leaders after 30 hours of negotiations.
However, he won an explicit opt-out for Britain from the “ever closer union” of the EU and gained significant protections for the City.
Mr Cameron that the deal meant that Britain now has “special status” membership of the EU. He added that it would make the UK “stronger, safer and better off ”, and that the referendum would be a “once in a generation moment to shape the destiny of our country”.
He said: “Turning our back on the EU is no solution at all. And we should be suspicious of those who claim that leaving Europe is some automatic fast track to some land of milk and honey.
“We all need to step back and consider carefully what is best for Britain, what is best for our future. Whatever the British people decide, I will make work to the best of my abilities.
“But let me tell you what I believe: I do not love Brussels; I love Britain. And my job, the job of the British Prime Minister, is doing all in my power to protect Britain’s interests.
“So when it comes to Europe mine is a hard-headed assessment of what is in Britain’s interest.
“In an uncertain world is this really the time to add a huge new risk to our national and economic security?”
Mr Cameron will hold a Cabinet meeting this morning before formally announcing that a referendum will be held in June. However, he faces mounting ministerial opposition to Britain’s EU membership with Mr Gove emerging as a key opponent. It will come as a major blow to Mr Cameron and his allies, who fear that the Justice Secretary will lend legitimacy to the “Out” campaign.
The Prime Minister said he would announce plans to protect Britain’s sovereignty from European courts in coming days. He is hoping that the measures will be sufficient to secure Mr Johnson’s support.
At least five other members of the Cabinet are expected to join the Out campaign. Iain Duncan Smith, Chris Grayling, Theresa Villiers, John Whittingdale and Priti Patel are all expected to say they cannot back the Prime Minister’s campaign to stay in the EU. Up to 20 junior ministers are expected to campaign for Britain to leave the EU.
Mr Cameron said: “Michael is one of my oldest and closest friends. He has wanted to get Britain to pull out of the European Union for about 30 years. Of course I am disappointed that we are not going to be in the same side but I’m not surprised.
“I will campaign very very strongly with all the insight I hope I have having led our country for almost six years that we are better off inside a reformed European Union. Politicians will have to make up their own mind.”
The Prime Minister invoked the First World War as he said that Britain
should not take for for granted “hard won peace and stability”.
During the negotiations Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic – known as the Visegrad group of nations – were infuriated by Mr Cameron’s plans to limit the amount of child benefit that migrants working in Britain are entitled to send home. They demanded that any curbs are delayed for 16 years, a move which Mr Cameron resisted before eventually accepting a four year delay.
The Prime Minister also fell short of his demands for a 13 year emergency brake on migrant benefits, instead settling for seven years. He secured an opt-out for Britain from future European treaties to “make clear that the references to ever closer union do not apply to Britain”. He also assured a guarantee Britain could pull an emergency brake on financial regulations on its own to prevent eurozone states from ganging up on Britain.
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and the architect of the deal, last night cast doubt on Mr Cameron’s claim that he had secured “special status” for Britain as he insisted that it is “nothing new”. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, Britain had special status.
Dalia Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian president, said it was all a “drama” designed to make Mr Cameron’s reforms look hard won. “No matter what we do here, no matter what face-lifting or face-saving we perform, it’s up to the British people to decide,” she said.
Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, said Mr Cameron had per- formed a major climbdown. “We are very, very far from the initial British position that wanted to create a discrimination,” he said.
Francois Hollande also mocked the talks. “Just because it lasted a long time it doesn’t mean that much happened.”
The renegotiation risked being overshadowed after the EU’s police chief warned that up to 5,000 jihadists could be at large in Europe after training with Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Rob Wainwright, the British head of Europol, said that thousands of jihadists had “slipped back” into Europe after training with the terrorist group in the Middle East.
It came as a Eurosceptic campaign event led by Nigel Farage ended in chaos and mass walkout last night after George Galloway, the former Respect MP, was unveiled as the star guest.