BRITISH PRIME MINISTER David Cameron is coming under increasing pressure from the right wing of his party over its role in the European Union – amid calls for a referendum on leaving the bloc.
Cameron yesterday vowed not to support a referendum on remaining within the Union, after a public petition calling for a referendum drew the 100,000 signatures necessary to trigger a debate in the House of Commons.
“It’s not our view that there should be an in-or-out referendum,” Cameron told the BBC on the first day of the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
The PM added:
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.
The Scotsman explains that the pressure over Britain’s role is further exacerbated by the publication of a book of essays, called The Blue Book, which pushes for a more right-wing agenda for the Conservatives.
The book is edited by David Davis – who ran against Cameron for the leadership of the Conservatives in 2005.
The party conference is expected to see heavy pressure on Cameron for his perceived soft stance on Europe and immigration – with pressure on him to commit to the repeal of the Human Rights Act, passed by Labour in 1998 to enshrine EU-sanctioned rights.
Today’s British papers have mixed reports on whether this will be repealed or not: The Sun reports that the bill would be repealed, quoting Cameron in saying: “I do agree that it would be good to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights.”
The Daily Mail reports, however, that Cameron said he couldn’t repeal the act even though he wanted to – because his coalition partners the Liberal Democrats were forcing him to take a more measured approach.
The act, as it currently stands, makes it easier for citizens from other EU countries to claim social welfare payments in Britain, and also has implications which Home Secretary Theresa May says make it more difficult to deal with criminals appropriately.
One case documented in the British press recently concerned a prison van which was driven over 100 miles so that it could bring a man on a 200-yard journey from a police station to a court, because he had invoked a right to privacy and needed sheltered transport.
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