Cameron defends EU move

British Prime Minister David Cameron today insisted that he had genuinely sought agreement on a new treaty at last week’s European Union summit.

Mr Cameron told MPs he had negotiated in “good faith” during the discussions in Brussels.

However, in a Commons statement he said that he had been forced to block a treaty of all 27 member states after they refused to agree to safeguards for the City of London.

“We went seeking a deal at 27 and I responded to the German and French proposal for treaty change in good faith, genuinely looking to reach agreement at the level of the whole of the European Union,” he said.

Mr Cameron’s decision to wield Britain’s veto sparked fresh tensions with the Tories’ Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

Lid Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was notably absent from the chamber today.

Mr Cameron said he remained committed to Britain's membership of the European Union.

“Britain remains a full member of the European Union and the events of last week do nothing to change that,” he said.

“Our membership of the EU is vital to our national interest.”

Mr Cameron insisted that the safeguards he sought were “modest, reasonable and relevant” and were designed to ensure a “level playing field” for the City.

“Satisfactory safeguards were not forthcoming so I didn’t agree to the treaty,” he said.

“It was not the easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do.”

Liberal Democrat sources said Mr Clegg had stayed away from the Commons set piece because he did not want his presence to be a distraction.

Pointing out the absence, Labour leader Ed Miliband accused the Prime Minister of ignoring the national interest to appease Conservative eurosceptic MPs.

In noisy exchanges which required several interventions from the Speaker, Mr Miliband quoted Mr Clegg several times in his dismissal of the Mr Cameron’s claims for the summit.

“How can you expect to persuade anyone else it’s a good outcome when you can’t persuade your own deputy?”, he said.

It was not a veto “when the thing you wanted to stop goes ahead without you”, he added.

“That’s called losing, that’s called being defeated, that’s called letting Britain down.”

He went on: “The reality is this: you have given up our seat at the table; you have exposed, not protected British business; and you have come back with a bad deal for Britain.”

Mr Cameron had been “unable to point to a single proposal” in the planned Treaty that threatened Britain’s financial service industry, he said.

Mr Cameron denied the safeguards he sought were because the Government was ``soft'' on the banks, saying ministers wanted to go further in regulating the banks than they could under existing EU rules.

The other 26 members are now set to go ahead with a new set of fiscal rules for the eurozone through an international agreement, which Britain will not be a party to.

Mr Cameron said even though Britain was not in the euro, the changes would have had consequences for the UK if they were incorporated into a treaty.

“Creating a new eurozone treaty within the existing EU treaty without proper safeguards would have changed the EU for us too,” he said.

“It would have changed the nature of the EU, strengthening the eurozone without balancing measures to strengthen the single market.

“Of course an intergovernmental agreement is not without risks but we did not want to see that imbalance hardwired into the treaty without proper safeguards.”