‘Cameron to lose cause over EU vote’

The office of the British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday rejected reports that he plans to drop a key demand he had raised for Britain to stay in the European Union.  The case has nonetheless revived the debate on the issue among the analysts. 

Nigel Flanagan, a political commentator from London, believes that Cameron’s demand to deny welfare benefits to migrants coming from within the EU has its roots in the last general elections.

Flanagan has told Press TV that the Conservative Party was facing the emergence of the powerful United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) as well as an internal rebellion against Cameron for his policies – particularly those that fellow Conservatives said were not tough enough to address the issue of immigration.    

“So in order to try to head off the revolt from his own ranks and secondly the rise of UKIP, Cameron did the only thing that he thought would buy him some time and it was to promise a referendum for the British people on whether or not we should stay in membership of the European Union,” he said.

Cameron had promised to hold a referendum on whether or not to stay in the European Union before the end of 2017 if EU fails to meet his demands.

His demand to deny welfare benefits to EU citizens working in Britain had already been described by EU officials as “the most problematic”.

They said it could breach EU treaty obligations not to discriminate among citizens of the bloc.

Flanagan emphasized that Cameron has already put himself in a very vulnerable position.

“He is between a rock and a hard place. He said he is going to demand changes to the European Union treaty that would curb the immigration.  That would appease the anti-immigrant nationalists inside the Conservative Party and defeat the UKIP.  

“But unfortunately, most of the European states are not in any mood to change the treaty of the European Union,” he added.   

Flanagan said if Cameron fails to achieve any significant changes in the European Union treaty, he will become vulnerable as the leader of the Conservative Party.

This is likely to happen, he said, adding that a lot of opinion polls are beginning to show that the British people will vote not to be a member of the European Union.    

“So, a crisis on the far right of the British political scene is sending us towards a referendum on whether to stay or leave the European Union,” Flanagan said.   

The question is not immigration, he added.  The question is democracy and control and anti-austerity politics.

“Cameron … may have let the cat out of the bag and given an impetus and a kind of encouragement to those political organizations inside the UK who want us to leave the European Union,” Flanagan said.

“It’s like watching a desperate man trying to swim in a storm because he is not going to win on either way.”   

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir