David Cameron says he has already started the process of renegotiating Britain's relationship with the European Union, but it is hard to feel optimistic about his chances.

Not only has the Prime Minister proved himself singularly incapable of winning friends and allies in the EU in the past, it looks like an alliance is already beginning to form against him. The governments of Poland and Hungary have indicated they think the freedom of movement for workers is sacrosanct and the former EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso says he thinks the kind of restrictions on benefits for EU migrants that Mr Cameron would like to see are extremely unlikely to happen. It is not a good start.

The lack of co-operation from European neighbours is just one of the hurdles Mr Cameron faces. Already, some of the Euro-sceptics in the Conservative party are flexing muscles they have not used in years. Since 2010, Mr Cameron has been able to rely on his Lib-Dem partners to secure a majority in the House of Commons, but now with a Tory majority, it would take only seven rebels to cause the Government trouble -the potential rebels know it, and Mr Cameron knows it too, which is why he has been speaking to his party's 1922 Committee in an attempt to stay on good terms.

However, political history is not on Mr Cameron's side. After the 1992 election, the then Prime Minister John Major had a similarly slim majority and it led to years of bloody infighting over Europe and fatal instability for the government. David Davis, a Eurosceptic who was a chief whip during those turbulent Major years, insists there would be no repeat of the revolts, but the sound of sharpening knives can already be heard from some parts of the backbenches. The notorious Eurosceptic Peter Bone, for instance, has already said he thinks Mr Cameron will fail to get what the British people want. It is a thinly veiled indication of trouble ahead.

But Mr Bone and his ilk should remember that they do not speak for the majority of the British people, and they certainly do not speak for very many voters in Scotland where Euro scepticism is less rampant. There is undoubtedly some concern about Europe among voters in the UK, but the arguments for staying in the community are likely to win the day.

For a start, our membership provides access to a market of more than 500 million people to which we sell around half of all our exports. Foreign companies also invest in Britain because it is a gateway to the world's largest single trading area and taking Britain out of Europe would do huge damage to domestic trade with the EU.

The VE commemorations at the weekend should also remind us that there is more than a business case for membership: the relationships at the heart of the EU have helped keep us all peaceful and secure. And should anyone doubt whether European unity is required, look to the increasingly aggressive signals from Putin's Russia.

Mr Cameron will make all of these arguments when the in/out referendum happens, but before that, he is right to seek some reform and realignment of the European model. There is still far too much waste and expense in the EU - not least on the Parliament's Strasbourg base. There are also elements of the institutions which are undemocratic, most obviously the lack of any real powers held by MEPS and the fact that the commission is unelected.

Mr Cameron sees himself as rebalancing the democratic deficit by repatriating some powers to national parliaments, and he may find some allies for that. But his idea of stopping welfare payments to so-called benefit tourists is less likely to succeed because it will be seen as a threat to one of the fundamental principles of the EU: the freedom of movement of workers. And why should our neighbours agree to Mr Cameron's proposals anyway when so many Brits live and work abroad?

Whatever the challenges, Mr Cameron seems to be in an upbeat mood and he will feel that he has more of a mandate for his case having just won the General Election. But in taking on the job of fighting for meaningful and much-needed reformed, he faces being crushed by a pincer movement formed on the one side by European neighbours who believe in further integration and on the other by MPs in his own party. Sooner or later, they are ready to fight a battle that has already destroyed the careers of several Tory leaders.