Prime minister's failure to build alliances has left UK isolated, say opposition – 'in a rowing boat next to a supertanker'

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has accused David Cameron of poor leadership following his decision to veto a revision of the Lisbon treaty which many fear will leave Britain isolated in Europe.

While Conservatives hailed their leader for showing strong leadership by taking a stand, Labour blamed the outcome on Cameron's lack of influence in Europe and on a personal failure to build alliances before Thursday night's meeting took place.

He faced accusations of being more interested in appeasing Tory Eurosceptic colleagues than battling for Britain's place at the heart of Europe.

Miliband was among a deluge of MPs who turned to the Twittersphere to give their verdict on events.

The Labour leader wrote: "David Cameron should be building alliances. The UK went into the summit without them and the outcome showed we lacked influence."

Douglas Alexander, the shadow foreign secretary, said Cameron had led the UK into a situation "where we've got most of the European Union countries signing up to an agreement where Britain will not be present in the room, despite there being very significant decisions being taken within the room".

He added on Friday: "Britain this morning is more isolated than at any point in the 35 years of British membership of Europe.

"It is not in Britain's national interest for decisions to be taken without us even at the table.

"It's a direct result of David Cameron spending more time negotiating with his own backbenchers than with our European partners."

David Miliband, who served as foreign secretary in the last Labour government, lamented an outcome that will leave Britain voluntarily locked out of treaty talks that will involve 23 of the EU's 27 states.

The UK had "jumped into a rowing boat" next to a "supertanker", he said. "That is weakness not strength."

Alexander told BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "I don't glory in Britain's isolation this morning and I regret just how badly David Cameron's negotiating strategy has let Britain down.

"Strip away all the rhetoric and look at the reality: Britain today is more isolated than at any point in the 35 years since we joined the European community.

"This outcome is a sign not of strength from the prime minister but of profound weakness.

"The reason we ended up where Britain ended up after 10 hours of negotiation … was a direct consequence of a shambolic and misconceived negotiating strategy that left Britain isolated even before the summit.

"We ended up going into a summit without allies, without alliances and ultimately we ended up with an outcome that showed we lacked influence."

Labour's Chris Bryant said: "Cameron has achieved political and economic isolation for the UK while keeping us in the Common Agricultural Policy, Working Time Directive and common fisheries," said the former Europe minister.

"Not an ounce, not a gramme of leadership to his own party, just surrender. So the euro crisis continues and we tip towards recession.

"The euro is no stronger, so our economy will suffer. The others will unite, so we will be excluded."

Diana Johnson, shadow home office minister, agreed: "Looks like UK taxpayers will pay even more to bail out the eurozone in return for little say in EU decisions that affect our economy."

Former culture secretary Ben Bradshaw sarcastically described Cameron's veto as a "diplomatic triumph".

The Exeter MP wrote: "So Britain gets blamed if the euro falls apart taking us down with it and our only ally is the nasty regime in Hungary. Diplomatic triumph."

John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, drew an unflattering comparison with earlier Tory prime ministers whose political careers foundered on foreign affairs decisions which were later deemed disastrous.

"David Cameron … is he the new Neville Chamberlain or is he the next Anthony Eden?" asked Mann.