Cameron appeals to EU rebel MPs

24 October 2011 Last updated at 11:23 ET

The debate is from about 4.30pm, the vote at 10pm

David Cameron has issued a final appeal to his MPs not to rebel in a vote on a referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.

All Conservative MPs, and Lib Dem and Labour MPs, were instructed to vote against the motion but nearly 70 Tory MPs are likely to defy the party whip.

Mr Cameron, facing the biggest rebellion of his premiership, told them the approach and the timing was wrong.

“The time for reform is coming. That is the prize,” he said, ahead of a debate.

Country’s interests

“I share the yearning for fundamental reform and I am determined to deliver it,” he added.

“Those who are supporting today’s motion, but don’t actually want to leave the EU, I say to this: ‘I respect r views. We disagree about ends, not about means.

“‘I support r aims. Like , I want to see fundamental reform. Like I want to refashion our membership of the EU so it better serves our country’s interests.

“The time for reform is coming. That is the prize. Let us not be distracted from seizing it.’”

The motion – which carries no legal weight – calls for a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU, leave or renegotiate its membership.

The House of Commons will vote on it at 2200 BST but the result will not be binding.

Speaking earlier on BBC Radio 4’s Today, Mr Hague said he believed “this proposition is the wrong question at the wrong time”.

“Clearly our whole relationship with the European Union is a matter that concerns the government as a whole and not just something for the House of Commons to put up some graffiti about,” he said.

“It (the referendum) was not in the manifestos of either of the governing parties, it cuts right across the rules for holding referendums, it will create additional economic uncertainty in this country at a difficult economic time.”

Mr Hague said the UK’s priority should be on “protecting the British national interest” during talks to resolve the eurozone crisis and to ensure the UK had a strong voice in future discussions over changes to the EU.

“The right referendum is when any government suggests handing more power from Britain to the EU.”

Conservative backbencher Bernard Jenkin said the public had not been consulted on the issue of Europe for more than 35 years and public opinion was on the side of those seeking a referendum.

“David Cameron is not just taking on the Conservative Party,” he said. “He is taking on the whole of public opinion.”

Mr Jenkin said the referendum was not a “panic exercise” but a response to what was going on in the eurozone and the “fundamental change in the nature of our relationship with the EU” being proposed.

Tory MP George Eustice, one-time press secretary to David Cameron, said the overwhelming majority in the party were united in wanting to see the UK’s relationship with the EU renegotiated, but the handling of the vote was making the party look “completely divided”.

He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One that the government had no serious intention of sorting out the European Union and a “clear coherent plan” was needed to show how the government plans to “knock the EU into shape”.

Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has said it is the worst time for a debate about Britain leaving the EU as a “firestorm” engulfs the eurozone. One Lib Dem MP, Stephen Gilbert, has said he will defy his leadership over the issue.

Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is likely to face a small rebellion from eurosceptic MPs within his own party, said EU membership was good for British business and Mr Cameron must prevent his party from “turning inwards”.

“The prime minister only has himself to blame. He has spent the last few years pandering to eurosceptics in their party and now he is getting his comeuppance,” he said.

The UK Independence Party, which campaigns for the UK to quit the EU, said the Conservatives were “tearing themselves apart” over Europe. Its leader Nigel Farage urged MPs from all parties “to vote with their conscience, ahead of their party or career”.

In the coalition agreement, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, a traditionally pro-European party, agreed to “ensure that the British government is a positive participant in the European Union, playing a strong and positive role with our partners”.

The Commons debate on the issue was prompted after a petition was signed by more than 100,000 people.

— ’re ’s , . : A ‘Malign Intellectual Subculture’ – George Monbiot Smears Chomsky, Herman, Peterson, Pilger And Media Lens.