Davis: Balance of power shift should trigger EU referendum
Thursday, 8 December 2011 10:56 AM
Former shadow home secretary David Davis calls for David Cameron to stand up to Europe in Friday's Brussels summit in an interview on the Today programme:
"The raw politics of this is if there is a significant change in the balance of power in Europe, that's the test - if it has big implications for our future, that's the point at which you have to have a referendum.
"[The big idea is] 'we need to centralise, we need to create a fiscal union'. That has huge implications for Britain, whether or not we are directly involved.
"The idea of having it completely separate to the operation of the union is very odd.
"I think every single member of the 27 will have to [be involved in setting it up].
"This is a time of great opportunity to rewrite the history of Europe. The prime minister should grasp that opportunity.
"There's a whole slew of things we need to take back control over.
"If we're going to have a two-tier Europe, we should define what it looks like. We cannot be told."
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