The prime minister said if the reforms were enacted, he would strongly defend Britain’s place in a reformed EU.
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“That may lead to the former being disappointed because the proposals aren’t meant to push Britain towards Brexit but rather to allow him to proclaim a symbolic victory over Brussels”.
However, in his speech, Cameron would also repeat that he wanted Britain to remain in the 28-nation bloc, which it joined in 1973 and was confident a deal could be struck which would suit Britain and its partners.
The Conservative general election manifesto said: “We will insist that European Union migrants who want to claim tax credits and child benefit must live here and contribute to our country for a minimum of four years”.
“Things will become clearer, I think, for everybody when the Prime Minister’s letter to [President of the European Council] Donald Tusk is published, which I expect in the first half of next week”, Mr Lidington told reporters in the Slovak capital.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the annual conference of the CBI, Confederation of British Industry, in London, Monday November 9, 2015.
In his speech Mr Cameron will say that the vote – which must be held within the next two years – will be “a huge decision for our country, perhaps the biggest in our lifetimes”. In principle, the United Kingdom will be more prosperous and more secure in a reformed European Union that respects each member nations’ right to tailor its engagement according to their history, strategic priorities and economic circumstances.
He warned however that there would have to be “substantive legally-binding change” if the British public were to vote for it in the referendum. “We managed to get our passes and we pretended to be businessmen”, one said.
From mid-November, the United Kingdom will begin a fresh round of meetings to discuss the U.K.’s relationship with the European Union as the negotiations enter a new phase.
They turned out to be a couple of young men claiming to be from an organisation called “students4britain”, who said they were protesting against the CBI misrepresenting the views of British businesses. As the students were led away by security guards, Cameron said: “We are going to have a debate”.
Meanwhile, Downing Street has said talk of a June referendum date is “wrong”.
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The commission accepts aid should not be seen as an adjunct of foreign policy but says part of the solution lies in “preventing United Kingdom foreign policy prioritising commercial diplomacy above all else”. The question is whether we would be more successful in than out?
