PM rallies the Right with Europe budget veto vow

Monday 8 October 2012

David Cameron sought to rally restive Tories with a pledge to use Britain's veto to block the European Union budget if it is not in the UK interest.

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As the Conservative Party conference opened in Birmingham yesterday, the Prime Minister said he would not stand for "outrageous" attempts to increase the EU budget in forthcoming negotiations on spending. "If it comes to saying 'no' to a deal that isn't right for Britain, I'll say 'no'," he said.

He also proposed a "bold thinking" plan for the EU to have separate budgets: one for the 17 eurozone countries and another for the 10 – including Britain – outside the single currency.The move is likely to prove popular with Tory MPs but will heighten tensions with their Coalition partners. The LibDems reacted angrily when Mr Cameron used the veto to oppose the EU fiscal pact last December.In a further overture to the right, Home Secretary Theresa May called for a review of the EU's freedom of movement directive in order to prevent a new influx of immigrants."We are looking at this whole area of the abuse of the freedom of movement. But we will go further on this, and the issue of free movement will be part of the review," she said. "It will be looking at where the decision-making powers are between the EU and the UK."With the Tories continuing to trail in the polls and the economy mired in recession – Mr Cameron admitted he needed to do more to explain to voters where the party was going in government.He insisted he was not ready to concede the political centre ground to Ed Miliband after the Labour leader's party conference speech claiming his was the true "One Nation" party. "Are the Conservatives deserting the common ground of British politics? Absolutely not," he said, and attacked Mr Miliband for "signalling right but turning left" He also ridiculed Mr Miliband's much trumpeted feat of speaking for more than an hour without notes. "It is difficult to give a speech without notes for 70 minutes," he said. "It's even more difficult when you haven't got anything to say."

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Local government

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PM rallies the Right with Europe budget veto vow

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