Cameron: UK should stay in Europe

British Prime Minister David Cameron today said he would not support a referendum on UK membership of the European Union.

It was revealed today that MPs are set to vote on a referendum within the next few months, after a petition with more than 100,000 signatures was submitted calling for the public to be given the chance to decide whether Britain should stay in the EU.

Speaking at the start of the Conservative Party in Manchester, Mr Cameron said he did not believe the UK should quit the EU.

And he played down the prospect of the Government repatriating powers from Brussels in the near future.

The Government’s immediate priority on Europe is to get the crisis in the eurozone sorted out and revive the continent’s economy, he said.

The Commons Backbench Business Committee is expected to set a date before Christmas for a one-day debate in the House of Commons on a referendum on EU membership. The vote will not be binding on the Government, but if MPs back a referendum, it will put massive pressure on Mr Cameron to put the issue to the country.

But Mr Cameron told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s not our view that there should be an in/out referendum. I don’t want Britain to leave the EU. I think it’s the wrong answer for Britain.

“What most people want in this country is not actually to leave the EU, but to reform the EU and make sure that the balance of powers between a country like Britain and Europe is better.”

Mr Cameron left no doubt that he believes the collapse of the European single currency would be highly damaging for Britain.

“Right now, the eurozone is a threat not just to itself but a threat to the British economy and a threat to the worldwide economy, so we have to deal with this,” he told the Marr Show.

The break-up of the single currency would be “very bad” for the UK, even though it is not a member of the euro and will not join under his leadership, said the Prime Minister.

“If bad things happen in the eurozone, that affects us,” he said. “We can’t insure ourselves from the fact that the German and French economies – the two biggest economies in Europe – have stalled.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that a referendum on EU membership would not be ``sensible'' at a time of economic crisis.

Asked about how the Government would approach any Commons debate on a referendum, Mr Hague told Sky News’s Murnaghan programme: “Of course we will look at any motion, but we won’t be in favour of holding now an in/out referendum on Europe.

“At a time of economic difficulty to actually say to people, instead of getting everything growing in our economy, we are going to spend our time on an in/out referendum which will create uncertainty for businesses in Britain – that wouldn’t be a very sensible course of action.”