Ukip leader Nigel Farage seizes on weekend media reports, saying David Cameron was ‘asking for next to nothing’ for Britain

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Downing Street has distanced itself from reports that it has abandoned plans to seek a renegotiation in Britain’s role in European Union treaties, the rights for EU migrants to claim benefits in the UK and free movement across borders.

There had been reports in the weekend press suggesting the UK had dropped demands to restrict benefits of EU migrants in the face of opposition from eastern European countries.



Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, seized on reports that David Cameron was pushing a relatively small renegotiation package to say the UK is “asking for next to nothing”.

Speaking on Sky’s Murnaghan, Farage said the demand to control the UK’s borders had to be at the heart of any campaign to leave the EU, adding he still hoped either Theresa May, the home secretary, or the London mayor, Boris Johnson, might yet join the out campaign.

Pro-EU campaigners fear 4 million young people will be barred from voting Read more

Farage said Johnson was a recognisable figure and “we might just get him”, adding “that would be good news”. He claimed half the Conservative party were now in favour of the UK departing the EU.

The row flared as the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign prepared to launch on Sunday under the chairmanship of Lord Stuart Rose, the former chief executive of Marks and Spencer.

The In campaign wheeled out a list of its supporters, including three former prime ministers, Tony Blair, John Major and Gordon Brown.

Downing Street insisted that it was still pushing on four fronts, calling for:

• Greater national sovereignty including a role for national parliaments through veto or red card system.

• Restrictions on the rights of EU citizens migrating within the EU to claims benefits for a fixed period.

• Progress on the long-standing UK competitiveness agenda including completion of the single market.

• A clear governance relationship between EU member states within the euro and those like the UK outside the euro, so protecting the interests of those outside the euro specifically on financial issues and the single market.

Any move to abandon the migration issue would have a massive effect on voters’ attitudes to the renegotiation, polling has already shown, so it would be surprising if the UK dropped the demand at such an early stage.

No 10 insists talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Friday at the prime minister’s residence in Chequers were productive, with 90 minutes dedicated to the UK demands.

Downing Street acknowledges that the EU migration crisis caused by a surge in the numbers of Syrian refugees has pushed back the focus on the UK’s renegotiation demands as EU leaders instead try not to be overwhelmed by asylum seekers from outside the union as opposed to migration from within member states, the key UK demand. There is little sign that the concern in Europe over external migration is prompting leaders to look at the issue of migration within the EU in a way that is more sympathetic to the British line.

Apart from the three former prime ministers, the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign will be joined by former head of the army, Sir Peter Wall, Conservative peer and businesswoman Baroness Brady, ex-TUC general secretary Sir Brendan Barber, Liverpool University vice-chancellor Janet Beer, businessman Richard Reed, TV presenter June Sarpong, and Jude Kelly, the artistic director of the Southbank Centre.

Other members of the campaign are Lord Mandelson, former Liberal Democrat minister Danny Alexander and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Lord Rose has written in the Sunday Times that membership of the European Union is worth approximately £3,000 per British household per year. “Those who want us to leave Europe would risk our prosperity and diminish our influence,” he writes.

“Worse, they would have us take that risk without knowing the alternative. They can’t explain how we would achieve a free trade deal with Europe without agreeing to keep freedom of movement. They can’t know how long it would take to renegotiate trade deals or what the outcomes would be. They can’t contest that jobs and living standards would be hit. And they can’t escape the simple truth that retreat from Europe would diminish us on the world stage”.

Farage defended his plan to back a campaign other than the cross-party Leave campaign by supporting the separate Vote Leave.

He said: “There are millions of people who don’t normally vote that can be brought in to vote if we are prepared to talk about believing in our country and controlling our borders. There are also whole swaths of people on the left of politics who are potentially Eurosceptic and who are not going to be impressed with a Westminster-based campaign mostly run by Conservatives. We need different elements to all this.”

Dismissed by Lord Lawson, a prominent Eurosceptic, as a xenophobe, Farage said he was probably not posh enough for Lawson, adding he was not interested “in party tribalism or factionalism. I want to win this referendum.”

He defended his decision to call the French pipsqueaks, saying: “Quite frankly what Mrs Merkel says is what happens,” adding: “We are living in a German-dominated Europe.”

Farage said he was prepared to work alongside the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, and share a platform with him.