Archive: Eu British Relations

Cameron plays up 'national interest' of EU membership

Prime minister firmly pro-European in latest foreign policy speech

David Cameron has reaffirmed his commitment to remaining in the European Union, insisting Britain's ongoing membership helps it on the world stage.

Analysis: Opportunity knocks for statesman Cameron

Sketch: Ambassadors huff at Dave's EU referendum heresy

Cameron the statesman hopes to bring EU and US together with transatlantic trade deal

Hague wants Commons veto on EU law

Hague's proposal does not actually feature a red card

MPs should be able to block EU laws outright if they are opposed by the Commons, William Hague is expected to argue later.

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European legal battle looms over immigration benefits test

David Cameron's hand will be strengthened when talking on Jose Manuel Barroso and the rest of the EU, Lilley says

Britain is being taken to court over an extra test it imposes on migrant benefit claimants.

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Saved by the president: Obama backs Cameron over EU referendum row

Tory backbenchers are causing a Queen's Speech nightmare for David Cameron

David Cameron has received a major boost from Barack Obama after the US president firmly backed his EU negotiations in their White House press conference.

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Analysis: Cameron's referendum tactics reveal a deep, deep weakness

David Cameron looks weak. He's actually even weaker

Eurosceptic troublemakers have forced David Cameron into a reluctant equivocation which collapses under scrutiny. By refusing to listen to them, they are making him play a terrible political price.

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Abstention tensions: Ministers told to steer clear of referendum vote

Only so much No 10 can do to put out this fire

Conservative backbenchers are preparing to defy their leader over the EU referendum in another sign of David Cameron's weakness on Europe.

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Eurosceptic Tories use Ukip threat to pressure Cameron

Conservative backbencher John Baron has masterminded the letter

Over 100 Conservative backbenchers have again expressed their displeasure with the prime minister's position on Europe, in another setback for David Cameron's authority.

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Confrontation in Europe: Cameron sells reform to EU leaders

Only this time, of course, Cameron wants to give the British people their chance to deliver a verdict

David Cameron is addressing criticisms his EU referendum plans are creating uncertainty this week, as he takes the case for reform to European capitals.

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Comment: No more euro flim-flam please, we're British

Marc Glendening: "We must stop being little Europeans, as much as we should avoid being little Englanders."

When it comes to Europe, we need more Malcolm X than Malcolm R.

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Comment: UK's euroscepticism could cost Britain power

Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution: "Cameron's approach is much more likely to lead to an exit than his publicly stated position suggests."

Size matters in diplomacy. If Britain is forced to go it alone in Europe, it will be an observer of world events - not a shaper of them.

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SNP climbdown over EU membership

Edinburgh would have to negotiate afresh with the EU, the SNP now concedes

An independent Scotland would have to apply for membership of the European Union, the SNP has conceded.

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The Political Week Online

Do you want to eat salami for breakfast with your egg and bacon?

David Cameron's tantric Euro-sausage moment.

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Podcast: What next after Cameron's game-changing Europe speech?

David Cameron making his Europe speech - a game-changer, if ever there was one

It was a speech worthy of the buildup. David Cameron's pledge for an in-out referendum on Europe has transformed the debate about the UK's relationship with the continent.

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Cameron's Europe speech analysis: 2015 trumps 2017

Focusing in on Cameron's Europe speech...

David Cameron has let domestic politics triumph over diplomacy. The closer you look at his EU referendum speech, the more it becomes clear his goal is winning power in 2015.

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Divide and rule: Cameron splits eurosceptics over in-out referendum

Hardline Conservatives will unite for 2015 election, but referendum campaign is set to be a different story

Hardline Conservative eurosceptics are gearing up to fight their party leader in the European Union in-or-out referendum, regardless of the negotiations with EU leaders to come.

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Comment: Cameron's 'us against them' EU argument weakens Britain

Robert Ackrill: 'Cameron talked about the relation between Britain and the EU, rather than Britain in the EU'

The Lisbon treaty already gave national parliaments greater powers. So what exactly is Cameron fighting for?

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Comment: EU blackmail could be prelude to another U-turn

Edward McMillan-Scott: We now face the prospect of several years of wrangling between and within our parties because of Cameron's weakness and lack of leadership

Offering an in-out referendum on EU membership is the final capitulation to the growing euroscepticism which caused me to leave the Conservative party and join the Liberal Democrats.

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Sketch: Ambassadors huff at Dave's EU referendum heresy

Cameron's audience included business chiefs, diplomats, ministers and reporters

If a grown-up baby were to hold a well-attended, much-reported speech to announce it had no choice but to throw all its toys out of the pram, and was preparing to give its teddy bears a vote on whether to leave the family unit altogether, it would look something like this.

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