David Camerons “jinxed” speech on Europe will take place in London on Wednesday instead of on the Continent, Downing Street sources said today.
The landmark address will pave the way for a referendum on Britain’s relationship with the EU, Foreign Secretary William Hague has made clear.
Mr Hague confirmed that Mr Cameron is thinking of calling a referendum, though not until the next Parliament.
“The European Union is changing to such a degree and will change over the next few years to such a degree, that the fresh consent of the British people is required,” said Mr Hague.
He added: “I think I’m dropping quite a heavy hint when I’m talking about fresh consent. The Prime Minister and I have both talked about the clearest way to obtain such consent is in a referendum, so the direction in which we have been travelling has been clear for some time.” Tory Right-wingers are hopeful that a public “no” vote on new EU membership terms could trigger moves to quit the EU altogether, although this has not been confirmed by Downing Street.
Mr Cameron’s attempt to reunite Conservatives around a clearer, Eurosceptic position was given a boost when former defence secretary Liam Fox, a leading sceptic, said he was “broadly satisfied” with what he understood to be the contents of the speech.
“If that is the speech that is finally delivered, a great many of us will think that it’s a speech that we’ve been waiting a long time for any prime minister to deliver,” he said.
The Prime Minister’s long-awaited address has suffered from delays and changes of location since it was first mooted in September.
Mr Cameron planned to make the speech last month but it was pushed back because of the EU budget row. He pencilled in tomorrow at The Hague, but that date was also scrapped after Germans protested that it clashed with the anniversary of the Franco-German peace treaty.
It was then brought forward to last Friday in Amsterdam but cancelled with hours to go because of the hostage crisis in Algeria.
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Extracts released in advance show that Mr Cameron will warn that Britain could “drift towards the exit” from the EU unless there is real reform in Brussels.
