DAVID Cameron last night postponed plans to deliver a stark warning to the European Union that unless it sorts out its three key challenges then Britain will leave.
The Prime Minister had planned to tackle the EU over the eurozone crisis, its lack of competitiveness in the global economy and its democratic deficit today in a landmark speech in Amsterdam.
However, he cancelled it as the hostage situation involving British oil workers in Algeria deteriorated.
The Prime Minister planned to use his address, marked by "urgency and frankness", to warn the EU it must change to deliver prosperity to its people and retain their support.
In pre-released extracts Mr Cameron did not mention the r-word – referendum – but hedid talk about "a duty" to act on the concerns of frustrated Britons.
He made it clear that Europe could not afford to shy away from its main challenges and must tackle them head on.
He said: "Why raise fundamental questions about the future of Europe when Europe is already in the midst of a deep crisis? Why raise questions aboutBritain's role when support in Britain is already so thin? There are always voices saying 'don't ask the difficult questions'. But it's essential for Europe – and for Britain – that we do."
The Prime Minister has faced mounting pressure from all sides over the eagerly anticipated speech.
Both his Liberal Democrat Coalition partners and Labour have warned "years of paralysing debate" would cost jobs.
On the other side of the argument, the Eurosceptic Right has urged Mr Cameron to give voters a say on EU membership.
Mr Cameron was due to use the speech to argue the problems in the eurozone are already driving fundamental change in Europe.
He intended to warn of a crisis of European competitiveness as other nations soar ahead and of a gap in democratic accountability between the EU and its citizens.
"If we don't address these challenges, the danger is Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit," he was due to say.
"I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success and I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it. That is why I am here today: To acknowledge the nature of the challenges we face.
"To set out how I believe the European Union should respond to them. And to explain what I want to achieve for Britain and its place within the European Union."
The speech is unlikely to satisfy either faction in the debate.
Yesterday, LibDem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg warned: "Having years of paralysing debate of if we're in or out of(Europe) is damaging."
However, Eurosceptics in the City of London called on the Prime Minister to offer Britain "a clear choice".
Mr Cameron is also under pressure from backbenchers from across his party, including a number of former Cabinet ministers. Liam Fox, the former Defence Secretary, called for British voters to eventually be given a "clear in/out choice".
In contrast, 25 Conservative MPs, including former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, urged him to use his speech to emphasise Britain is better off in the EU.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article