David Cameron's battle to keep Britain in the European Union was boosted today when he received the backing of his Eurosceptic Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Mr Hammond, who has previously said the United Kingdom would leave if only “cosmetic” changes were made to its membership, declared this morning that he “can’t envisage” voting for a Brexit.
His comments came a day after Boris Johnson publicly sat on the fence, saying that Britain could have “a great, great future” outside the EU.
Asked if he might vote to leave, the Mayor of London replied: “Let’s see what happens.”
But Mr Hammond said that although negotiations were “painstaking”, Mr Cameron would not lead the campaign to stay unless he secured a good deal.
“I cannot envisage us negotiating a deal which the Prime Minister thinks is good enough to recommend to the British people and which I feel I want to campaign against,” he said in an interview on BBC radio. “I can’t envisage that circumstance.”
The negotiations appeared to be slipping backwards today — amid growing signs that the In-Out referendum will be staged in September. Downing Street today said it was relaxed over reports that the potential deal on reforming the EU would not be reached until March.
Mr Cameron last month appeared confident it would be reached at a summit on February 18.
A key sticking point to negotiations between the 28 members states is the Prime Minister’s manifesto promise to curb welfare payments to migrant workers from the EU for four years to reduce mass movement from poor states to the UK.
At a joint press conference in Hungary yesterday, prime minister Viktor Orban expressed anger that his citizens were being presented as “parasites” on the British taxpayer.
Mr Orban noted at a press conference alongside Mr Cameron that 55,000 Hungarians working in Britain were paying more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
“We do not want to be parasites, we want to work there,” he said.
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But he said he recognised anxiety over “abuse” of Britain’s welfare system and expressed confidence that the V4 nations — Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia — would agree to a solution.
Government officials said they did not recognise a proposal reportedly being made by EU leaders for a deal that would allow Mr Cameron to ban welfare payments for four years but allow Britons aged 18 to 22 to be compensated through other payments.
A Downing Street source said: “There has been lots of noise and specula- tion around our renegotiation over recent months — and this is just the latest example.”
Some Cabinet ministers regard such an idea as being “preferable” to a blanket ban for four years that would cause young Britons to lose out, said other sources.
Home Secretary Theresa May, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers are all thought likely to vote to leave the EU.
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