Pressure on Cameron over EU exit

A senior British minister said yesterday he would support an exit from the EU if there were a vote on the issue, as prime minister David Cameron faces a revolt over Europe from lawmakers in his own party.

Up to 100 eurosceptic Conservative members of parliament are expected to back an amendmentthis week criticising the legislative plans unveiled by the government last Wednesday because they did not include a bill for a referendum on Britain’s EU membership.

Ministers have been ordered not to join the rebels but will be allowed to abstain, a sign of the extent of the divisions that have dogged Cameron’s party for decades.