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Cameron’s EU rhetoric must reach outside the Westminster bubble

Chris Fairbank, Dods Monitoring | Dods Monitoring

5 min read Partner content

With the prime minister setting out the terms of his EU renegotiations today, Political Consultant Chris Fairbank outlines the key themes and what they will mean for the political battle ahead.

Prime Minister David Cameron said in a speech to the CBIon Monday he was not firing the starting pistol on the EU referendum campaign. Cameron merely delayed the start by twenty four hours – his speech at the Royal United Service Institute on Tuesdaycould not be concealed as anything else. The prime minister spoke of his four key pillars of reform, his approach to tackling them and his "every confidence" in securing a deal for the UK. The headlines within his speech are as follows;

  • There will be no second referendum

  • The UK wants a number of safeguards - including a recognition that sterling is one of the currencies of the European Union, as well as protection for the single market

  • Cameron recognises that to give the UK, or any other single country, a veto over European directives would lead to "gridlock" but groups of Parliaments should be able to combine to reject new laws, the so-called "red card" system

  • The UK will scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights

  • Migrants should only be able to qualify for in-work benefits and social housing once they have been resident for four years and child benefits for children living abroad will be stopped

  • He ruled out a Norwegian-like approach

  • The date of the referendum will only be considered once the negotiation process is over

  • All four pillars of negotiation (single market protection, competitiveness, exemption from an ever closer union and freedom of movement) are essential, he promised not address three and ignore a fourth

There was nothing new or novel about his approach but instead the prime minister focussed on promoting a stern whilst cooperative tone, an approach that will prove the most effective with his European counterparts. The main campaign group arguing for the UK to remain in the European Union welcomes the PM's proposed reforms, describing them as "sound and sensible". Cameron's problem will not be convincing colleagues of the need for reform, but the wider public who see the debate in different terms and factors than those in the Westminster bubble.