Salmond and Jones press Prime Minister on EU veto

Thursday 22 December 2011

DAVID Cameron last night rebuffed a joint call from Alex Salmond and his Welsh counterpart Carwyn Jones for an urgent meeting to discuss the Prime Minister's controversial European Union veto and its potential economic impact on Scotland and Wales.

Custom byline text:

MICHAEL SETTLE and ROBBIE DINWOODIE

Following the Brussels bust-up earlier this month, the First Ministers wrote separately to Downing Street, raising concerns about the negative impact Mr Cameron's veto might have.

Mr Salmond accused the Coalition of "collective irresponsibility" and said the UK Government had come across as a "bunch of little Englanders".

In his response to their first letters, the Mr Cameron insisted he had taken his action "in the interests of the UK as a whole".He wrote to Mr Salmond, saying: "Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is benefiting from the credible fiscal policy we are adopting, most clearly seen in the far lower market interest rates available in the UK, in comparison to other European economies despite the similar size of our deficits."The Prime Minister also highlighted the importance of the financial services industry to Scotland, which employed 100,000 people in Edinburgh and Glasgow alone."I hope you will therefore agree we should be wary of putting that sector, and the jobs it created across the UK, at risk of operating on anything other than a level playing field," he added.His response, however, did not satisfy Mr Salmond nor Mr Jones, who yesterday joined forces to demand Mr Cameron convene and chair an emergency meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee, involving all four administrations of the UK, including Northern Ireland's.Their concerns are not shared by the main Northern Irish party, the Democratic Unionists, who last week used a Commons debate to praise Mr Cameron's stance at the Brussels summit.The First Ministers have also requested the reinstatement of a standing invitation – rescinded in 2008 – to the regular UK Government EU policy forum known as the "Darroch-Cunliffe meetings".In their joint letter, Mr Salmond and Mr Jones raise their mutual concern the devolved administrations are being frozen out from policy development and decision-making on Europe. "Issues of prime importance to the devolved administrations are frequently discussed in Brussels and we were not sufficiently sighted to be able to manage the potential consequences and risks of the UK's recent policy decisions," they added.Following No 10's insistence in response to the first letter that "foreign policy is reserved", it last night rebuffed the second overture.A Downing Street spokeswoman told The Herald the Prime Minister had responded to Mr Salmond's first letter and would respond to any further correspondence. "He made it clear the decisions he made at the European Council were in the interests of the UK as a whole and discussions with the devolved administrations will continue through the planned meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee and sub-committees that will meet in the early new year." In a separate development, Vince Cable warned "whingeing" City bankers the Coalition was determined to reduce their hold over the economy.The Business Secretary claimed the contrasting caricatures of the Square Mile as a vital national interest where a network of innovative firms with workaholic employees generated "shedloads of tax revenue for UK plc" and as a "source of systemic instability, unfettered greed and industrial scale tax dodging" were both true. He blamed a small number of "rogue institutions" and a "sub-caste of financiers" for the problems.When Mr Cameron exercised his veto, he highlighted the need to defend the financial sector but Mr Cable argued many of the new regulations proposed by Brussels were necessary. He argued that if there had been "a calm, unpoliticised environment", then disagreements could have been resolved through qualified majority voting.The Secretary of State added: "In the UK, we need to put the whingeing of the City to one side and concentrate on delivering our core narrative: to achieve growth by rebalancing the UK economy." ''

Commenting & Moderation

We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.

Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.

Salmond and Jones press Prime Minister on EU veto

Commenting & Moderation

MOST READ

SPONSORED LINKS

MOST COMMENTED