Cameron ‘confident’ of EU reforms ahead of poll

British Prime Minister David Cameron has insisted he is “confident” of securing reforms in Brussels and indicated he remains open to staging a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union next year.

Mr Cameron admitted he was “not met with a wall of love” as he met European counterparts for the first time since his general election victory and conceded that securing a deal will take “patience and tenacity”.

At a summit in the Latvian capital Riga, the prime minister refused to rule out campaigning for Britain to leave the EU if his renegotiation efforts fail and said it would be “good” if the vote could be held earlier than 2017.