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What does Cameron want to negotiate
Chirpy_Chicken
Posts: 1,740 Forum Member
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Cameron bangs on about changing rules within the EU, however he has never said exactly what he wants to change.
Why is he so unclear?
Why is he so unclear?
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He's not.
This is hilarious:
https://twitter.com/Charles_HRH/status/585802433911205888/photo/1
They always do the 'win votes getting pictured with kids' routine every general election
These are, of course, never going to happen.
Cameron's strategy with the referendum was to throw the responsibility over the fence, as at the time it seemed as if Labour were going to stroll past 326 seats and would then be duty-bound to implement the referendum, absolving the Tory Party of responsibility for the mess they have made.
Unfortunately for him, this has backfired rather spectacularly, and I suspect his get-out is going to be "but the LDs stopped me from running a referendum again".
Which is why the LDs need to take a step back and try to force Cameron to fall into the hole he's made for himself.
Cameron isn't really a politician, he's more of a manager so I don't doubt that his negotiating skills are not that great. But it's not his place to do the negotiating.
What does he want to negotiate ?
His next job a the European commission.
If the EU say no to everything, it will all but guarantee the UK's exit - and that would be disastrous for all of the other 26 countries. If he is PM and the referendum goes ahead, Cameron will get concessions from the EU - you can take that to the bank.
The issue will be where the concessions lie. I very much suspect they will be limited to new developments. Restrictions on the free movement of future countries that join etc. - rather than fundamental change. They may well throw him a bone in form of greater EU emphasis on trade - his hobbyhorse.
I couldn't give a monkey's about "his strategy on the referendum". I personally want a referendum to settle the EU issue once and for all. I'm fed up to the back teeth with people pointing the finger at Europe and saying it's the source of their woes. Let's schedule the referendum, have the debate, accept the result and move on.
I agree completely, but the question is currently too politically charged.
Either come to a cross-party agreement that it's in the interests of the country to settle the question (which just isn't going to happen as long as Farage is stoking the fire with his anti-immigration rhetoric), or let the parties who most want out lead the way.
Point taken, but you will never. ever come to a cross party agreement. With the obvious exception of UKIP, the parties know (rightly in my view) that a future outside the EU would be disastrous. So much so that they don't want any chance that a referendum might lead us out. Unfortunately, there is a huge groundswell of public opinion arguing otherwise and it is dominating strategy, political thinking, media - across the board. It is taking time away from us actually dealing with our mistakes.
I'm am 1 billion % confident that the UK will vote to stay in Europe. Sometime like 65%-35%. And that vote will have a profound effect over the medium to long term of UK political and social thought. And FWIW I suspect it will lead the country left, not right. It doesn't matter - the issue is that the time for squabbling is up.
Merkel and Hollande know that without Britain they'd have to fork out more of their own cash to dish around