David Cameron: beating heart of Britain wants less EU interference

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jan/14/david-cameron-britain-eu-interference

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A desire to rein in what is seen as "too much bossiness from Brussels" is now a mainstream aspiration among voters and not just the concern of a Ukip-supporting fringe, David Cameron said on Monday morning, as he began to prepare the public ground for his long-awaited speech this month on relations with Europe.

In an appearance on ITV's Daybreak programme, the first of a series of media interviews, the prime minister argued that while Britain should remain in the EU there was a groundswell of public support for a fundamental renegotiation of the country's relationship within the bloc.

"I think we're better off in the European Union," Cameron said. "We're a trading nation so we need to be in the single market, not just selling goods to Europe but having a seat round the table saying what those rules are. But I'm not happy and the British public isn't happy with every aspect of our relationship now.

"Europe's changing because of the single currency. That's driving a process of change. We're not in the single currency, we're never going to join the single currency in my view – not while I'm prime minister – and so we can use this process of change to make sure that Britain has a relationship with Europe that suits us better and then we should be making sure the British people give that their full-hearted consent."

Challenged as to whether a Conservative fear of Ukip was driving the process, Cameron said such views were "very mainstream across Britain as a whole".

He said: "I think the beating heart of Britain, as it were, is that we know we need to be in Europe because we're a trading nation, these are our neighbours, these are friendly countries we should be co-operating and working with, but we're not happy with every aspect of the relationship at the moment – there's too much interference, too much bossiness from Brussels. We need to deal with that, make sure that powers can flow backwards as well as the other direction.

"I think people want that fixed and they want more of a say, and we shouldn't be frightened of involving the British people in a proper debate about Europe. And that's what I'm doing."

Cameron's Europe speech, due to be delivered in the Netherlands, is expected to promise that the Tory manifesto for the next election will include a pledge to use a treaty revision to repatriate powers to Britain. The new terms of British membership would then be put to the public in a referendum after the next general election.

The prime minister faces pressure on two fronts within his party, with some rightwing MPs – Eric Pickles being the latest – floating the idea that Britain might have to quit the EU altogether, while Kenneth Clarke is preparing to join forces with Lord Mandelson to make the case for wholehearted British membership.

Cameron also used his interview to discuss plans for a new flat-rate state pension worth £144 a week, intended to assist the retirement earnings of women who take time out of paid work to care for their children.

"The current system is too complicated. It also discourages saving because there's so much means testing and it's also not particularly fair on women because if you take a career break you find it difficult to build up a decent pension," he said.

"So the idea here is for new pensioners from 2017 – it's a long-term reform – instead of the £100 or so basic state pension it'll be over £140. Much simpler, it's a single state pension, it cuts out a lot of the means testing. It'll help a lot of women, a lot of low-paid people who otherwise wouldn't get a decent state pension."

Cameron denied this was a "con trick" that would mean people paying more and retiring later. "We are going to have later retirement ages because we're living longer. If you want to go on having a decent state pension, which we do, we have to either put up taxes or ask people to work a bit longer. And I think it's fair to ask people to work a bit longer given that we're living longer."