Cameron spoke in front of his 10 Downing Street office after holding a rare Saturday Cabinet meeting and winning its agreement to recommend that Britain remain part of the European Union rather than strike out on its own.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “We believe that with this we have given David Cameron a package with which he can campaign in Britain for Britain to stay in the European Union”.
Ministers immediately divided up into the leave and remain camps as the campaigns got under way in earnest.
But Justice Secretary Michael Gove will defy the PM and join the campaign for Britain to leave. London mayor Boris Johnson is also expected to join the exit campaign.
Speaking at the end of a mammoth E.U. summit that stretched from Thursday lunchtime to late on Friday night, the U.K. Prime Minister hailed the agreement with European leaders that secures Britain’s “special status” within the 28-member bloc and paves the way for a referendum this summer.
“We will be campaigning to keep Britain in Europe in the coming referendum, regardless of David Cameron’s tinkering, because it brings investment, jobs and protection for British workers and consumers”, he said.
Reuters reports that British bookmaker Ladbrokes “indicated there was now a 69 percent chance of Britain remaining in the European Union with a 31 percent chance of Britain leaving”.
George Osborne, Britain’s Conservative finance minister, told the BBC: “We’re stronger, safer and better off in the EU”. “I will never say that our country can’t survive outside of Europe, we can achieve great things”.
But, opponents of European Union membership say Britain would prosper outside what they say is a doomed Germany-dominated bloc that punches way below its weight on the world stage.
Now that the date has been set, campaigns on both sides are kicking off and ministers will start declaring what side they support. “All they’re offering is a risk at a time of uncertainty – a leap in the dark”.
Some EU leaders initially objected to giving Britain the right to cut back on welfare payments to foreign workers, but none wanted to see Britain, with its powerful economy and military, leave the EU. Other EU members don’t want migrants to be treated differently in the United Kingdom.
The deal established that child benefits for European Union migrants living overseas will be paid at a rate based on cost of living in their home countries and allowed the U.K.to place a four-year “emergency brake” on migrants in-work benefits during periods of “exceptional” migration.
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He said: “Last year, companies in the North East exported goods worth over £7 billion to the EU”.
