European Council — House of Commons, 2016-02-22
Topic: International Affairs
David William Donald Cameron (Conservative, Centre-right): I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his contribution. He and I disagree on many, many things—economic policy, social policy, welfare policy and even the approach we should take within Europe, as he has just demonstrated in his response—but we do agree about one thing: Britain should be in there, fighting for a good deal for our country. I worry a little for him because he is going to be accused of all sorts of things, some of them fair, some of them unfair. I fear that if he takes this course, he will be accused of being a member of the establishment, and that would be the unfairest attack of all On what the right hon. Gentleman said about the deal, I will make two points about why he should welcome it. The first is that, as far as I can see, it implements almost every pledge on Europe in the Labour manifesto—I am looking at the former Labour leader when I say that. Labour pledged to complete the single market. It pledged "tougher budget discipline". It said "we will ensure EU rules protect the interests of non-Euro members." That is absolutely right. The manifesto went on to say: "People coming to Britain from the EU to look for work are expected to contribute to our economy, and to our society. So we will secure reforms to immigration and social security rules" I therefore hope Labour will welcome the things in this agreement. [Interruption.] I am just reminding my new friends what they said at the election. They said this: "We will work to strengthen the influence national parliaments over European legislation, by arguing for a ‘red-card mechanism’ for member states" Excellent, that is another thing that has been achieved The right hon. Gentleman was unfair when he said that this deal was really all about Britain, and not about anyone else. The Slovakian Prime Minister said, good, "the myth about ever-closer union has fallen." The Hungarian Prime Minister said: "The UK managed to put an end to the practice of ‘creeping power withdrawal’ from national member states." Romano Prodi, the former President of the Commission, said this: "The real consequence of the summit is extraordinarily important: Brussels has officially enshrined a multi-speed Europe." That is beneficial to Europe as well as to Britain Where I disagree profoundly with the right hon. Gentleman is that I think these trade deals are good for Britain and that the sooner we do the deal with America the better. He is wrong about financial services. There are more people working in financial services in our country outside the City of London than there are inside it. Crucially, what the single market means is that, with one establishment in Britain, we can trade throughout the European Union. If we lose that, we will see jobs going from Britain to other countries. Let me end on a note of consensus. Labour Governments and Conservative Governments standing here have all had their difficulties with Europe. We have all wanted to get the budget down. We have all wanted to get powers returned. We have all found that, because of our love for this House of Commons and for British democracy, this process can sometimes be trying, but, at the end of the day, we have always known that, when it comes to our economy, prosperity and security, we are better off fighting from the inside.