Government split after eurosceptic rebellion
But divisions within the coalition government over Europe burst into the open yesterday, as ministers absorbed the impact of rebellion.
The government won the House of Commons vote late on Monday by 483 votes to 111 with support from the Liberal Democrats — the Tories’ euro-friendly junior coalition partners — and the Labour opposition.
But in the biggest show of internal dissent in his 18 months in charge, the Tory eurosceptic wing ignored Cameron’s plea that it was the wrong time for a referendum because of the debt crisis engulfing the eurozone.
After helping orchestrate the largest ever Conservative rebellion over Europe, senior backbench MP Mark Pritchard insisted it would become “more rather than less of an issue” in the months to come.
However, Cameron played down suggestions of lasting damage to his party, which suffered bitter divisions over Europe in the 1990s. “This has always been a difficult issue for my party, it always will be, but the important thing is to do the right thing for the country,” he said, arguing that now was not the right time to have a vote on EU membership.
“I understand why people feel strongly and we will go forward together and tackle the difficult decisions that the country face.
“But you have to do the right thing and give a lead in politics and that was what yesterday was about.”
Although the vote was not legally binding, polls suggest the rebels had the public on their side. A survey on Monday revealed that 68% of Britons support a national vote on EU membership, while a poll published yesterday found 49% want to leave Europe, compared to 41% who want to stay.
Labour said that government “disunity” over Europe was undermining Britain’s influence in discussions on the eurozone crisis, which continue tomorrow with an emergency meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
In the wake of the vote, comments from senior Cabinet ministers indicated starkly divergent attitudes from the Conservative and Liberal Democrat sides of the coalition on Britain’s future relations with Europe.
Tory education secretary Michael Gove said that he wanted to see negotiations to win back powers from Brussels within the term of this Parliament.
“We are already winning powers back — we need to win more and that process will require careful negotiation. What we are fortunate in having is a Conservative Party that is united as never before behind that renegotiation.”
But Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister Nick Clegg dismissed the row over repatriation of powers as a “monumental distraction” and said there was no question of the Government mounting a “smash-and-grab raid” on Brussels.
Asked about calls for a referendum, Mr Clegg said: “I think it is a monumental distraction from what is, in effect, an economic firestorm on our doorstep to tie ourselves up in knots late at night in Westminster about a treaty or inter-governmental conference that might never happen.”
“Eurosceptics need to be quite careful for what they wish for, because if they succeed — and they won’t succeed, as long as I’m in government — to push this country towards the exit sign, let’s be clear: the people that will be damaged is British families, British businesses, British jobs, British communities, and I won’t let that happen.”
Cameron said the focus for ministers now must be “to solve the eurozone crisis that is having a chilling effect on our economy”.
The proposed referendum would have asked the British public if they wanted to remain in the EU, leave or renegotiate membership, the first such vote since 1975.
