‘If you argue for leaving the EU, you don’t love Britain’

Prime Minister risks angering his Eurosceptic ministers by suggesting they are not putting the country’s best interests first

DAVID CAMERON suggested yesterday that those in favour of leaving the European Union do not love Britain and warned that “Brexit” would be “the wrong step for our country”.

In comments that will infuriate Eurosceptic ministers, he said that “if you love this country you’ll want what’s best for it”.

He told Andrew Marr on BBC One: “You can boil it down to if you love this country – and I love this country so much – you’ll want what’s best for it. You want to make sure we’re stronger, we’re safer, we’re better off, we’re able to get things done in the world.”

Sovereignty

The Prime Minister said that claims by Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, that Britain will have greater sovereignty if it leaves the EU are “illusory”.

While he is “sad” that his “close friend” is on the other side of the debate, leaving the EU would only give Britain the “feeling” of sovereignty. He confirmed he will announce plans this week for a “sovereignty law”.

“If Britain were to leave the EU that would give you a feeling of sovereignty but you’ve got to ask yourself – is it real?” he said. “Would you have the power to help businesses and make sure they weren’t discriminated against in Europe? No, you wouldn’t.

“Would you have the power to insist the European countries share with us their border information so we know what terrorists and criminals are doing in Europe? No, you wouldn’t.

“Would, if suddenly a ban was put on, for some bogus health reasons, on one of our industries, would you be able to insist that that ban was unpicked? No, you wouldn’t.

“You have an illusion of sovereignty, but you don’t have power, you don’t have control, you can’t get things done.”

Establishment

Mr Cameron said it was wrong to claim that the debate will be the “rebel alliance against the Establishment”, pointing out: “You don’t get much more Establishment than the Lord Chancellor [Michael Gove] and the leader of the House of Commons.” He suggested that the support of Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, and the Greens, the Liberals and trade unionists suggests the In campaign will have greater non-Establishment credentials.

“Frankly, I’ve got many things to say about Jeremy Corbyn, but I don’t think I’d describe him as a member of the Establishment,” he said.

Immigration

The Prime Minister suggested that his Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers had misled voters by claiming that leaving the EU could cut immigration.

Leaving would not mean the end of freedom of movement of EU citizens, he said, as any new deal to access the single market would mean Britain would have to accept the principle.

“If we were to leave the EU and we were to try to insist on full access to the single market, like Norway has for instance, every other country that’s got that sort of deal has had to accept the free movement of people and a contribution to the EU budget.

“It would be ironic if we left the EU, negotiated our way back into that full access of the single market and then wouldn’t be able to exercise those welfare restricts that I’ve just negotiated.”

Migration

Mr Cameron was reluctant to address the issue of how long migrants will be barred from accessing in-work benefits under an “emergency brake”. The brake, which was at the heart of his deal, will allow migrants gradual access to benefits over a four-year period. He refused to state whether that access could begin after just six months, instead saying “we’re going to settle that later”.

National interest

The Prime Minister said that being a member of the EU enables Britain to “project our values, our power and our influence in the world”.

He said: “I care about Britain being able to fix stuff, whether it’s stopping pirates off the African coast, where it’s closing down illegal migration routes and closing down smugglers, whether it’s standing up to Vladimir Putin with sanctions, whether it’s the sanctions we’ve put in place to get Iran to abandon its nuclear programme.

“Having that seat in the EU, just as being a member of Nato, is a vital way that we project our values and our power and our influence in the world.”

Utopia

Mr Cameron said that the EU “will not go away” if Britain chooses to leave. He said: “I think it would lose, obviously, one of its strongest players, it would lose the country that argues the most for free-trade deals, that argues the most for a competitive single market.

“But it wouldn’t go away – I think this in a way is one of the weaknesses of the case for leaving. Patrick McLoughlin [the Transport Secretary] put it brilliantly at Cabinet yesterday, he said in a way perhaps only he could, ‘look, I’d love to live in utopia too, but I’ve got a feeling when we get to utopia we’ll find the EU will still be there’.” David Cameron tells Andrew Marr leaving the EU would not end free movement