Labour and Tory MPs unite to devise plot for Britain to leave the EU
Glen Owen
Last updated at 2:10 AM on 18th September 2011
A powerful cross-party coalition of MPs plans to put unprecedented pressure on the Government to pull back from Europe – as support grows at Westminster for Britain to leave the EU altogether.
Amid mounting fears over the economic impact on the UK of the deepening eurozone crisis, MPs are putting aside party differences to form an anti-Brussels alliance.
The new drive follows last week’s inaugural meeting of a new group of 120 Conservative MPs, who are pushing David Cameron to set out a ‘clear plan’ for pulling back from the EU.
The group’s convener, George Eustice, plans to hold a summit with the ringleaders of the estimated 50 Labour MPs who are also opposed to integration.
Mr Eustice said: ‘This issue is now far too important to sweep under the carpet. The crisis in the eurozone requires all three parties to work together to negotiate a new relationship between Britain and the EU.’
The move came as Chancellor George Osborne warned that ‘time was running out’ to solve the eurozone crisis.
Mr Osborne, speaking in Poland where he was holding talks with European finance ministers, said there needed to be certainty over how to help Greece with its rapidly deteriorating finances.
‘I think everyone here understands the severity of the situation,’ he said. ‘People know the time is running out, that the eurozone needs to show it can get a grip on the situation’
The Euro-sceptics say a ‘substantial’ core of MPs from both main parties want the UK to leave the EU. Mr Eustice even hopes to recruit several high-profile Liberal Democrats – despite the fact that many senior Conservatives, including Foreign Secretary William Hague, blame their Coalition partners for obstructing efforts to dilute Brussels’ power.
Lib Dem Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael, party president Tim Farron and Deputy Leader of the House David Heath all voted in favour of a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty – the 2009 agreement that accelerated the integration process – but are inhibited by their positions from speaking frankly.
Labour MP John Cryer, a leading member of the party’s Euro-sceptic wing, who is in favour of holding a referendum on leaving the EU, said: ‘There has always been a strong streak of Euro-scepticism running through the Labour Party, which has been obscured by all the attention paid to the Conservatives.
‘There are a lot of Labour MPs who didn’t want to join the single currency who feel the same way about the EU as a whole.’
Labour’s Euro-sceptic ranks include former Ministers such as Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart, as well as prominent backbenchers Ronnie Campbell, Graham Stringer and Austin Mitchell.
The hopes of anti-EU MPs have been boosted by a 100,000-name petition calling for a vote on EU membership which was delivered to Downing Street this month. Under the new e-petitions scheme, Commons business managers must try to find time for a parliamentary debate on the issue.
Last night Tory MP Douglas Carswell said support was growing for complete withdrawal from the EU, and added that it would be as successful as the battle to keep the UK out of the single currency.
‘There were three distinct stages in the fight to make sure we kept out of the euro,’ he said.
‘First came the stage when we were branded mad for wanting to stay out. Next they said it was OK in theory to stay out – but it was impractical to do so.
‘Finally, we have got to the point where the same people are claiming it was always their idea all along.
‘We are following exactly the same pattern on the idea of quitting the EU completely. Most people have left stage one, and are currently poised somewhere between stage two and three.’
Campaigners see the chaos in the eurozone, triggered by the near certainty of Greece defaulting on its debt, as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ‘refashion the EU’ and ‘repat¬riate’ key powers to Westminster.
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