PM talks tough on EU as Clegg pledges reform
DAVID Cameron has defended his plan to curb the number of EU migrants coming to the UK, following heavy criticism from outgoing European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and a strong warning from Cameron’s coalition partner Nick Clegg.
Speaking at a Ford factory yesterday, Cameron said he would answer only to the British people, who he referred to as “the boss”, adding: “They want this issue [EU migration] fixed, they are not being unreasonable about it. I will fix it.”
Cameron’s comments came ahead of a report commissioned by Clegg that insists the UK must remain in the EU and make the union work better for business.
Published today by ex-Cabinet minister Michael Moore, the report also calls for more UK citizens to work in Europe. Clegg yesterday warned that the UK would be left “bobbing around rather hopelessly in the mid-Atlantic” if it were to leave the EU, and said British businesses overwhelmingly want the UK to remain inside the EU.
Meanwhile Barroso brushed off comments by Tory chairman Grant Shapps, who had called him “an unelected bureaucrat.”