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Cameron on EU: "one-way ticket, not a return"

Continued access to the Single Market is vital for British businesses and British jobs, the Prime Minister has said in his big speech on Europe.

Mr Cameron has pledged an “in/out” referendum if the Conservatives win the next election, but tried to calm business leaders’ nerves by saying people would have to think very carefully before giving the position up.

“If we left the European Union, it would be a one-way ticket, not a return,” he said.

“At the core of the European Union must be, as it is now, the single market. Britain is at the heart of that single market, and must remain so.

“But when the single market remains incomplete in services, energy and digital - the very sectors that are the engines of a modern economy - it is only half the success it could be.

“It is nonsense that people shopping online in some parts of Europe are unable to access the best deals because of where they live. I want completing the single market to be our driving mission.”

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: “The EU single market is fundamental to Britain’s future economic success, but the closer union of the Eurozone is not for us.

“The Prime Minister rightly recognises the benefits of retaining membership of what must be a reformed EU and the CBI will work closely with government to get the best deal for Britain.”

Former Labour minister and one-time EU Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Britain is “putting a pistol to the heads” of EU member states, and that investors chose Britain because of access to the single market.

On the same programme, Labour shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna, similarly said that Mr Cameron was creating further uncertainty for business.

Conservative MEP Martin Callanan said Cameron’s plan would counter the “outdated principle” that one-size-fits-all is the way forward for the EU.

He said: “David Cameron has set out a positive, practical and deliverable agenda for a more flexible and outward-looking EU. The EU needs fundamental change based on new principles that enable it to compete in a fierce global environment.

“As parts of the EU continue to integrate then the likelihood of the UK leaving will only increase, unless we can forge a new flexible alliance that allows national governments to ask at which level powers are best exercised.”

Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute ofDirectors, said: “The Prime Minister’s approach is realistic and pragmatic. The British public, and many of our members, are sceptical about many of the institutions and practices of the EU. We need to put their doubts to rest.”

“Free movement of goods and people is enormously important for the British economy, and we need to preserve that situation. At the same time, there are serious concerns about large amounts of costly regulation being introduced through unaccountable processes.

“We will enthusiastically take part in the process of proposing powers to renegotiate and bring back to Westminster. A future referendum to decide the workings of our relationship is the best way to affirmBritain’s participation in a free-market Europe which is competitive and deregulated.

“It is far better to deal with these issues than to shy away from them. British business is resilient. It is flexible and it can cope with change – or uncertainty. The Eurozone crisis is the source of far more uncertainty than a referendum. Most IoD members export, the majority of them to the EU. It is in everyone’s interests for that trading relationship to continue – and I am sure it will.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .