Critics have slammed David Cameron's 'special status' deal agreed with the EU claiming it failed to achieve key demands on welfare, borders and benefits.

The Prime Minister said the agreement was strong enough to allow him to campaign for Britain to remain in the EU in a referendum expected to take place in June.

But the overwhelming reaction has been scorn, with some within his own party labelling it 'thin gruel' while Labour and campaign groups have also criticised it as 'watered-down' and a failure.

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David Cameron, pictured, has come under fire over his deal with the EU to give the UK 'special status'

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured, said the EU deal was 'largely irrelevant' but Labour would campaign for the In vote

Eurosceptics said the deal was 'irrelevant' as he had not asked for any changes to freedom of movement or the repatriation of powers to the UK, while others said Cameron promised 'to get half a loaf but came back with crumbs'.

They also said it did nothing to address the chaos raging across Europe.

The Out camp was also boosted by news Cabinet big hitter Michael Gove is likely to campaign for out.

The Prime Minister said he was 'disappointed, but not surprised' that he and his close friend would not be on the same side.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed the renegotiation as a 'largely irrelevant' spectacle but confirmed Labour would campaign for In.

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, pictured, said the renegotiation was designed to placate Mr Cameron's critics within his own party but said Labour remained committed to keeping Britain in the EU

MEP Daniel Hannan, pictured, tweeted a scathing attack on the deal, saying: 'No new treaty, no powers back, and this is how Eurocrats teach us 'before' we vote'

In a statement released today, he said: 'Despite the fanfare, the deal that David Cameron has made in Brussels on Britain’s relationship with the EU is a sideshow, and the changes he has negotiated are largely irrelevant to the problems most British people face and the decision we must now make.

'His priorities in these negotiations have been to appease his opponents in the Conservative Party. He has done nothing to promote secure jobs, protect our steel industry, or stop the spread of low pay and the undercutting of wages in Britain.

Labour’s priorities for reform in the EU would be different, and David Cameron’s deal is a missed opportunity to make the real changes we need.

'We will be campaigning to keep Britain in Europe in the coming referendum, regardless of David Cameron’s tinkering, because it brings investment, jobs and protection for British workers and consumers.

'Labour believes the EU is a vital framework for European trade and cooperation in the 21st century, and that a vote to remain in Europe is in the best interests of our people.'

Ukip leader Nigel Farage dismissed Mr Cameron's renegotiation as proof substantial reform of the European Union was impossible

Announcing the deal last night, Mr Cameron said: 'Britain will be permanently out of ever closer union, never part of a European super state there will be tough new restriction for access to our welfare system for migrants, no more something for nothing'

Europe has divided the Conservatives for three decades and played a major part in the downfall of two of Cameron's two Conservative predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

Finance minister George Osborne backed Cameron and other senior members of his cabinet - such as Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond - are expected to follow suit.

London Mayor Boris Johnson has yet to make his position clear and Cameron acknowledged that Gove would campaign to leave, saying he was disappointed but not surprised. He suggested other Conservatives may also join the 'out' camp.

Since the announcement critics have begun picking apart the agreement as 'weak' and 'hollow'.

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn said the renegotiation was purely designed to deal with Conservative dissent, but welcomed elements of the deal and said Labour stood solidly behind continued EU membership.

Mr Cameron 'has done what he decided he had to do because he was too weak to stand up to his political party', Mr Benn told BBC Radio 4's Today - saying the 'red card' and protections for non-euro countries had been Labour demands.

'The vast majority of Labour MPs, the Labour movement, the Labour Party conference, the trade union movement, supports our continued membership.

'Why? Because being in the EU has given us jobs, investment, growth. It gives us security and it gives us influence in the world.

'Why would we want to exchange all of that for a leap into the unknown?'

Last night Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, said Mr Cameron's 'hollow' deal was bad for Britain.

The Prime Minister appeared to have developed a sty on his left eye after only having three hours sleep

'David Cameron always wanted to campaign to stay in the EU so he only ever asked for very minor changes,' he said.

'He will now declare victory but it is an entirely hollow one: the EU courts are still in control of our borders and our laws, we still send £350 million a week to the EU instead of spending it here on our priorities and we have not taken back any control.

'Crucially, this deal is not legally binding and can be ripped up by EU politicians and unelected EU judges so it will have no more force than an unsigned contract. The only way to get real change is to Vote Leave and take back control - that is the safer choice‎.'

Eurosceptic Labour MP Frank Field said, on the basis of the deal, he will be campaigning to leave.

'The government has failed to secure the key renegotiation requirement, namely, that we should regain control of our borders,' he said.

'The Prime Minister promised half a loaf, begged for a crust and came home with crumbs,' said Leave.EU co-chairman Richard Tice.

Earlier, Mr Cameron's EU referendum talks in Brussels had appeared deadlocked in a bitter row over State handouts to eastern Europeans.

Last night, he finally secured the agreement at just before 10pm – but only after making still more concessions to the rest of the EU to a deal already dismissed as feeble by Eurosceptics.

Tory MPs said the turmoil on the continent showed his negotiations had been nothing more than a 'sideshow'.

They pointed out not a single thing in the PM's package of proposals would limit free movement across the EU.

Mr Cameron was back in further meetings yesterday to try and resolve the impasse over his deal. He met Donald Tusk, left, and Jean Claude Juncker, second left, in his first meetings of the day, pictured

As Mr Cameron's negotiations continued a new opinion poll from TNS suggested the Leave campaign would start the official referendum campaign in front - but with a large block of undecideds

Tory MP Peter Bone, one of the leading figures in the campaign to leave the EU said the comments showed the futility of Mr Cameron's wrangling in Brussels.

He told the Mail: 'People are not worrying about whether we can pay reduced child benefit or any of the other meaningless things Mr Cameron is asking for.

'They are worried about mass immigration of people coming into the continent. Some of those people coming in will be terrorists.

'The Prime Minister hasn't even asked the question that people want the answer to which is whether we can control free movement.

'It's a complete sideshow in Brussels. Unless we can control our borders any terrorist can walk in through the EU. We must be allowed to let in only the people we want to.'

'The Prime Minister is fiddling while Rome burns.'

EU leaders pictured gathering again in Brussels on Friday as Germany's Angela Merkel, left, returned to the talks, and France's Francois Hollande, right, arrived warning there could be no veto

As the marathon summit continued, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė suggested there would be a 'face saving deal but warned the real decision was for the British people

Daniel Hannan MEP poured scorn on the Brussels deal with a series of tweets complaining about the terms

He tweeted: 'Britain banged the table and aggressively demanded the status quo. The EU, after some mandatory faux-agonising, agreed.'

He added: 'No new treaty, no powers back, and this is how Eurocrats teach us 'before' we vote.'

Nile Gardiner, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said the deal consigns Britain to 'second class status'

He tweeted: 'Cameron's 'deal' will consign Britain to second class status in a third class EU.

'The only option is to leave and restore British freedom.'

Eurosceptic Tory MP Tom Pursglove said: 'I was willing to give the renegotiation a chance, but the fact is that this does not deal with uncontrolled migration from Europe, and will not allow us to trade globally.'

And in a damning intervention, Labour MP Frank Field signalled his intention to support the leave campaign with a scathing attack on Mr Cameron's failure to secure any extra powers for the UK to control its own borders.

He said: 'The Government has failed to secure the key renegotiation requirement, namely that we should regain control of our borders.

'I shall therefore be campaigning to leave the EU.'

European Council president Donald Tusk took to Twitter following the negotiations, posting: 'The #UKinEU settlement addresses all of PM @David_Cameron 's concerns without compromising our fundamental values.'

The PM said: 'The question of Britain's place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too long and it is time to deal with it'

Eastern European leaders were demanding yet more changes to the Prime Minister's plan for an emergency brake on the payment of in-work benefits, such as tax credits, to migrant workers

However, such sentiment was not echoed by legions of Vote Leave campaigning Brits.

Lynda Hayes tweeted: 'The PM...poor tired chap. How do you say, 'We managed to pull the wool over his eyes' in German, French, Dutch etc?'

User @Cybeeria said: 'Cameron has failed dismally to secure the fundamental reforms he promised us. The ONLY way to get them now is ti #VoteLeave

The deal came after behind-the-scenes talks which stretched through Thursday night and most of Friday, as Mr Cameron and Tusk struggled to keep Britain's renegotiation on track.

HE DIDN'T ASK FOR MUCH - AND HE GOT EVEN LESS Analysis by James Slack, Political Editor in Brussels TAX CREDITS What he wanted: A ban on EU migrants being paid in-work benefits for their first four years in the UK. Sticking point: In a compromise, Britain is being granted an emergency brake which allows for benefits to be restricted for up to four years if Britain’s public services or welfare system is under pressure. However, the EU insisted that the ‘limitation should be graduated, from an initial complete exclusion to gradually increasing access to such benefits’. This was still the subject of a huge row yesterday. Mr Cameron wanted the brake to be in place for up to 13 years. Eastern Europe objected strongly. Eastern European countries also want a guarantee that the brake could be used by the UK only – not nations such as Germany and Sweden, which have also experienced a huge influx of workers. CHILD BENEFIT What he wanted: The 2015 Tory manifesto promised that: ‘If an EU migrant’s child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit, no matter how long they have worked in the UK and no matter how much tax they have paid.’ Sticking point: A watered down agreement that child benefit payments will be linked to the cost of living in the child’s homeland has been agreed. But Eastern European countries insisted the rules should not apply to people who were already in the UK. The new regime is likely to be phased in over a number of years. Again, Eastern Europe does not want any other EU country to be able to apply the new rules. PROTECTION FROM THE EUROZONE What he wanted: A mechanism to ensure that Britain cannot be discriminated against because it is not part of the euro, cannot pick up the bill for eurozone bailouts and cannot have imposed on it changes the eurozone want to make without our consent. Sticking point: France spent days fiercely resisting the idea that Britain can interfere in the workings of the euro. Other EU countries were opposed to the idea that any agreement Mr Cameron secures should be enshrined in future treaties. EVER CLOSER UNION What he wanted: Exempt Britain from the commitment in the EU’s founding treaty to move towards ‘ever closer union’. Sticking point: The EU said it was content to acknowledge ‘that the United Kingdom, in the light of the specific situation it has under the treaties, is not committed to further political integration into the European Union’. However, EU leaders were opposed to the idea of enshrining this in future EU treaties – which is key if Mr Cameron is not to face accusations that his deal can be unpicked. AND THINGS HE ONCE PROMISED BUT NEVER ASKED FOR: Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2009, Mr Cameron promised a complete opt-out of the charter, which further extends human rights laws. Social and employment laws. In 2010, Mr Cameron pledged to claw back powers from Brussels, but this was quietly dropped. Working time directive. In 2012, he promised to change the law that includes the contentious 48-hour maximum working week. Common Agricultural Policy. Repeated calls for reform of farming subsidies, but no sign of any change yet. Waste. In 2009, he promised to end the European Parliament’s ‘absurd’ practice of meeting in Strasbourg as well as Brussels. Advertisement

The 28 leaders had initially been due to gather early in the morning for an 'English breakfast' meeting to approve a package of reforms to the UK's membership, but breakfast became brunch, lunch, high tea and then dinner as opponents of the deal dug in their heels.

The delays forced Mr Cameron to scrap plans to summon ministers for a Cabinet meeting on Friday evening.

Mr Cameron had faced concerns from eastern European countries like Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia over his call for an 'emergency brake' on in-work benefits for migrant EU workers to extend for as long as 13 years.

And the same nations put up stiff resistance to the UK's demand to impose cuts in child benefits for offspring living abroad on 34,000 existing claimants as well as future migrants.

Meanwhile, France and Austria voiced anxiety that the protections for non-euro states sought by Mr Cameron might effectively grant special status to the City of London and allow Britain to hobble future deepening of the eurozone.

BANGING HIS HEAD AGAINST A WALL... PM'S TWO DAYS OF FRUSTRATION JOHN STEVENS examines, hour by hour, how European leaders ganged up on David Cameron, turning the EU summit into a 30-hour farce THURSDAY 2.20pm (1.20pm GMT) David Cameron pledges to ‘battle for Britain’ as he arrives on the red carpet at the European Council’s Justus Lipsius building. ‘It is much more important to get this right than to do anything in a rush,’ he tells reporters. Behind his limousine trails a line of people carriers transporting some of the 30 British diplomats and aides in Brussels for the talks. Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite predicts: ‘I think everybody will have their own drama and then we’ll agree.’ 3pm European Council president Donald Tusk, who chairs meetings of all 28 EU leaders, holds a half-hour meeting with Cameron to explain how he plans to organise the summit talks. Pleading his case: David Cameron with Italian PM Matteo Renzi (left) and one of his aides yesterday 5.10pm On the 8th floor, Cameron walks alone into the summit room carrying a large red ringbinder filled with detailed notes. He makes small talk with the other 27 leaders before they sit down for business at a large circular table. European Parliament president Martin Schulz kicks off with a shocking warning that even if EU leaders agree to Cameron’s demands on migrant benefit curbs, he and his fellow MEPs will ‘fight’ them and stop them coming into law. 5.45pm The 28 leaders pose for a group photo and return to the summit room for two hours of ‘tense’ discussions. Tusk tells them he does ‘not need to stress what is at stake’. Cameron pleads for a better deal, admitting his modest package of proposed measures has ‘been badly received’ at home and cannot be ‘watered down any further’. ‘I am not asking for anything new or something impossible… This is already a compromise on a compromise’. Asking that Britain be allowed an ‘emergency brake’ on curbing in-work benefits to EU migrants for up to 13 years and the promise of treaty change in the ‘next few years’, he promises to campaign for the UK to stay in the EU with ‘all my mind and soul’ if they help him. French premier Francois Hollande warns Britain cannot be allowed a veto over reforms in the eurozone. The eastern Europeans, represented by Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka, warn they will get a ‘beating’at home if they accept cuts to child benefit for workers already in Britain. Collective: The 28 leaders posed for a group photo before returning to the summit room for two hours of ‘tense’ discussions on Thursday evening Estonian prime minister Taavi Roivas asks that leaders ‘conclude the deal at this summit as we don’t need another crisis on top of the ones we already have’. Belgian prime minister Charles Michel insists a clause is added to the deal making clear it is a final offer that cannot be improved if Britain votes to leave. ‘There’s no second chances,’ he says. German chancellor Angela Merkel gives one of the most supportive interventions for Cameron, insisting ‘we need to be generous enough so Cameron can go home and the people will support this’, but leaders get the impression she is ‘detached’ from the negotiations with her thoughts concentrated on the migrant crisis. Beata Szydlo, the Polish prime minister, says her ‘biggest problem’ is with cuts to child benefits, before Portuguese prime minister Antonio Costa expresses a hope that Cameron gets a ‘thumping’ victory, but criticises him for taking up EU leaders’ time with what should be a ‘domestic issue’. Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny tells the others ‘this is the biggest challenge’ Cameron has faced as Prime Minister. ‘His party and Cabinet are divided, we should give him the tools for this battle,’ he adds before quoting from Macbeth: ‘If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well, it were done quickly.’ 7pm At the close of the session, Cameron desperately warns leaders it ‘would be suicide’ if they do not give him a deal he could ‘get past the Cabinet’ and ‘win the referendum with’. He insists he ‘never came setting out ridiculous demands’ and has already made ‘big concessions’. Tusk tells the leaders he will hold one-on-one meetings before all meeting together for breakfast at 11am. 7.10pm Over a dinner of avocado and shrimp ‘imparfait’, cod loin with wheat beer emulsion and duo of potato, light mango mousse with caramelised pineapple and coffee, the leaders discuss the migrant crisis. Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras uses it as an opportunity to threaten to veto Cameron’s deal unless leaders stop criticising his country’s handling of the crisis. Finally: Mr Cameron emerged from dinner to proclaim his deal at 11.10pm last night ‘We need to help the UK, but the UK has only got a referendum in June and we have a crisis hitting us today.’ Shell-shocked British officials admit the negotiations have not gone well, one saying: ‘We expected some push back, but it was worse than we thought. Everyone was playing bad cop.’ FRIDAY 1.20am At the end of the dinner, Tusk emerges and warns: ‘A lot remains to be done.’ In a room on the fifth floor, that resembles a police interview room, he and Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker sit down at a desk opposite Cameron, who asks: ‘Do you want to start with the French issue?’ Through the night, Tusk holds meetings with Hollande to discuss his opposition to protections for the City, with Sobotka to talk about migrant benefit curbs and with Michel to go through resistance to clarifying ‘an ever closer union’. 5.40am A bleary eyed Cameron finally leaves the building after holding two further meetings with Tusk, between which he sat in the British delegation rooms snacking on Haribo sweets and wine gums. He is driven to the British embassy for three hours’ sleep. Tusk postpones the ‘English breakfast’ scheduled for 11am, and says it will instead be a lunch at 1.30pm. 10am Arriving back at the summit, Cameron says: ‘I’m going to get in there, do some more work, and do all I can.’ He tells Tusk: ‘I’m happy to stay until Sunday. I’ve told the wife and children.’ 12 noon After sitting down again with Hollande and Sobotka, Tusk warns that the lunch will not start until 2.30pm. An aide tells British reporters Tusk has been sustaining himself of croissants, adding: ‘I hope that doesn’t offend you.’ 1.20pm Leaders not involved in the one-to-one crisis talks walk the corridors as the lunch is postponed to 3.30pm. A candid Grybauskaite says: ‘The timing, it all depends on the deepness of the drama some countries would like to perform. We would like to help the British make their decision, but no matter what we do here, no matter what face lifting or face saving we perform, it’s up to the British people to decide.’ 2.20pm The planned lunch is pushed back to 4pm, before aides announce an hour later it will be a dinner. Cameron holds two meetings with the Polish PM as aides reveal the eastern Europeans are fiercely resisting a deal. One minister says: ‘There’s still some way to go, we need some more hours.’ 5.30pm After further talks, Cameron tweets that he will not hold a Cabinet meeting that evening. ‘English breakfast’ is delayed for a seventh time, to 8pm. Mrs Merkel is pictured tucking into a bag of fries with andalouse sauce – mayonnaise spiced with pepper and tomato. The eastern Europeans have met in a ‘war room’ to discuss tactics. 8.30pm All 28 leaders join together for aperitifs before finally sitting down to a dinner of crown of artichoke with goat’s cheese and rocket, fillet of veal with tarragon jus, wilted spinach and polenta, and passion fruit bavarois. 10.30pm Mr Tusk tweets from the dining room: ‘Deal. Unanimous support for new settlement for #UKinEU.’ 11.10pm Mr Cameron emerges from dinner to proclaim his deal. Advertisement



