PRIME Minister David Cameron stuck to his guns in parliament yesterday, insisting that he has not backed down over the new treaty agreed in Brussels.
The PM faced opposition jeers and increasing discontent among Conservative backbenches.
Tory MP Mark Reckless said Cameron had not vetoed anything, and added last night: “The City is left wide open to EU regulation by majority vote.”
Yet Cameron (pictured) said that he was prepared to take legal action if the new deal becomes a threat to the UK’s national interest.
“I made clear we will watch this closely and if necessary we will take action, including legal action, if our national interests are threatened by misuse of the institutions,” Cameron told MPs.
Labour leader Ed Miliband revelled in Cameron’s troubles over the fresh agreement, designed to deliver closer fiscal union within the Eurozone. “With this Prime Minister, a veto is not for life, it’s just for Christmas,” Miliband jibed.
“It talks like a European Treaty, it walks like a European Treaty, it is a European treaty,” he said.
But the PM hit back, arguing that the pact did not involve Britain or the Czech Republic, and was not a European Union treaty.
“It does not have the force of EU law for us; nor does it have the force of EU law for the EU institutions; nor does it have the force of EU law for the countries who signed it and there will be no inner group of European countries distorting the single market,” Cameron insisted.
“That is the fundamental protection we secured with our veto in December, and that protection remains.”
Cameron’s claim jarred with the verdict of Tory MEP leader Martin Callanan.
“There is no doubt that the government’s position has altered since the December summit, when they were insisting the [EU] institutions could not be used,” Callanan said, blaming Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, as well as the technicalities of the Eurozone fiscal pact.
Unhappiness with the Prime Minister’s handling of European negotiations is brewing among Conservatives. Yesterday Tory MP Nadine Dorries used Twitter to promote criticism from the People’s Pledge group, which is pushing for a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU.
“Cameron may have kept the Lib Dems happy today but there’s trouble ahead,” Dorries tweeted.
