Cameron to promise Britons straight choice on EU exit

[No Elephants]

By Andrew Osborn and Peter Griffiths

LONDON | Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:59pm EST


Cameron to promise Britons straight choice on EU exit

(Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron will promise on Wednesday to give Britons a straight referendum choice on whether to stay in the European Union or leave, provided he wins an election in 2015.

Cameron will end months of speculation by announcing in a speech the plan for a vote sometime between 2015 and 2018, shrugging off warnings that this could imperil Britain's diplomatic and economic prospects and alienate its allies.

In extracts of the speech released in advance by his office, Cameron said public disillusionment with the EU is at "an all-time high".

"It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time to settle this European question in British politics," he said in the extracts, adding that his Conservative party would campaign for the 2015 election promising to renegotiate Britain's EU membership.

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Whether Cameron will ever hold the referendum remains as uncertain as the Conservatives' chances of winning the next election due in 2015.

They trail the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, and the coalition government is pushing through painful public spending cuts to try to reduce Britain's large budget deficit that are likely to upset voters in the meantime.

Cameron's promise looks likely to satisfy much of his own party, which has been split on the issue, but may create uncertainty when events could put his preferred option - a looser version of full British membership - out of reach.

The move may also unsettle other EU states, such as France and Germany. European officials have already warned Cameron against treating the bloc as an "a la carte menu" from which he can pick and choose membership terms.

His speech in London is also likely to disappoint the United States, a close ally, which has said it wants Britain to remain inside the EU with "a strong voice".

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-britain-europe-idUSBRE90L16D20130122


"I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." (J. Wellington Wimpy, created by E.C. Segar as a Popeye character.)

Cameron promises to let Brits have their say at the polls on the EU--provided they re-elect him, of course.

Odd definition of democracy, wot, old chap?

Still, this could be HUGH!!!111!!!

[Enthusiast]

1. It is hugh!

I think they should "stay the course".

http://youtu.be/-sulDYYAiCU

[No Elephants]

2. It's amazing how little I miss him.

Well, maybe not amazing.

[Enthusiast]

3. He had nearly zero substance. What substance he had was negative.

You can't say that about many people that achieve the office of the Presidency.

[No Elephants]

4. Well, right before Abe Lincoln, there was one who supposedly caused the Civil War.

And that was a very bloody war, and between brothers, no less.

Over slavery, no less.

I don't know too much more about him. Can't even remember his name right now.

But, President whathisname might give * a run for his money.

[Enthusiast]

5. I still bet he was smarter than old "whathisname". nt