Cameron’s ‘sell-out’ on Europe

DAVID Cameron stood accused of delusion and selling Britain short last night after he hailed a deal to keep Britain in the EU.

The Prime Minister claimed he had secured ‘substantial change’ to the UK’s relationship with Brussels – despite having broken two key Tory manifesto pledges.

Incredibly, he claimed the deal was so good that he would recommend Britain joining the Brussels club – were it not already a member.

Amid mounting fury at the gagging of Eurosceptic Tory ministers, Mr Cameron opted not to face Conservative MPs in the Commons – instead preferring to give a speech at the factory of a pro-EU Germanowned company.

In the chamber at Westminster angry Tory backbenchers lined up to denounce his ‘slap in the face for Britain’. They said

his supposed ‘breakthrough’ deal did little or nothing to curb mass immigration, restore sovereignty or end the hugely divisive splits in the Tory Party over Europe.

However, the PM received a boost last night when Home Secretary Theresa May effectively ruled out joining the Out campaign, ahead of the expected June 23 referendum.

But Mr Cameron’s draft renegotiation deal with the EU was greeted with fury by Tory MPs, who accused the PM of delivering a ‘slap in the face for Britain’ and seeking to ‘polish poo’.

Eurosceptics were scathing about his failure to secure an outright fouryear ban on the payment of in-work benefits to EU workers.

Mr Cameron had to trumpet an ‘emergency brake’ that will only restrict in-work handouts.

The bizarre compromise means migrants will be eligible for tax credits that increase the longer they are in the UK until, after four years, they are on the standard rate.

Critics said this offered them reason to stay here longer. It also emerged that MEPs could block the emergency brake after the referendum.

In a second manifesto surrender, Number 10 ditched a pledge to end child benefit for youngsters living abroad.

The handout survives, but will be paid at the rate prevailing in the claimant’s home country, providing the prospect of bureaucratic chaos.

Andrew Rosindell, Tory MP for Romford, said: ‘These proposals are a bit of a slap in the face for Britain.’

Campaigners said the changes were ‘unlikely to have any significant effect on levels of migration’. The net inflow from the EU alone is currently 180,000 a year.

One Government insider said: ‘This is a pale shadow of what was already a pale shadow.’ On a day of drama: Mr Cameron admitted his plans would not cut migration to the ‘tens of thousands’ – a key Tory target;

The Out campaign continued to hunt for a figurehead after Mrs May declared Mr Cameron had secured the ‘basis for a deal’;

A senior Czech minister said the deal was likely to be signed off this month;

Bookmakers shortened the odds of Britain voting to remain inside the EU to 1/3.

Eurosceptics fear Mr Cameron is so determined to hold his referendum in June – before the migrant crisis gets worse – he will be willing to give further ground to Brussels in the next two weeks of haggling before EU leaders vote on the deal.

There is also alarm that the emergency brake could take a full year to introduce once the referendum is complete.

After months of negotiations, in which the PM flew thousands of miles to EU capitals, European Council president Donald Tusk yesterday released the basis for a draft deal intended to keep Britain inside the EU.

The short document included pledges to give Britain an exemption from the EU’s commitment to ‘ever closer union’ and boost competitiveness.

Controversial proposals were unveiled for a so-called red card which would allow national parliaments to block some EU legislation if 15 of them join forces. This stopped well short of demands by Eurosceptic Tory MPs for a simple veto.

But Mr Cameron said the proposals were ‘something worth fighting for’.

A decision was taken late on Monday evening that he was going to give a speech at the Siemens factory near Swindon. When the decision was published yesterday, Labour put in a request that he should attend the House of Commons. But Mr Cameron was on his way by this time.

Europe Minister David Lidington responded on behalf of the Government in the Commons.

Steve Baker, Tory MP for Wycombe, told him: ‘This inat-all-costs deal looks funny, it smells funny, it might be superficially shiny on the outside, but poke it and it’s soft in the middle.

‘Will you admit to the House that you have been reduced to polishing poo?’

Meanwhile, the leader of the SNP at Westminster wants a June referendum – only weeks after the Holyrood election – to be ruled out.

Speaking in the Commons, Angus Robertson said out of respect to the devolved nations the vote should not take place before the summer.

Holyrood’s Europe Minister Fiona Hyslop said: ‘We have not been consulted on the detail of these latest proposals so will need time to study them and their implications for Scotland. But if we are to influence positive change in Europe, we must preserve our EU membership.’ She added that she was ‘strongly opposed’ to a referendum in June.

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