Ex-minister leads push to retake powers from Europe

Published on 18/10/2012 00:00

A FORMER children’s minister is to lead a backbench push for a radical renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Brussels.

Tim Loughton, MP will oversee the creation of the Fresh Start Project (FSP) manifesto, which will set out recommendations for taking back powers from Europe.

Ten Conservative MPs, including Margot James and Priti Patel, have been given the task of drawing up specific proposals on areas including immigration and employment law, which the group hopes will influence party policy in the run-up to the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister David Cameron said there was an opportunity to seek a “fresh settlement” with Europe.

Andrea Leadsom, one of the FSP co-founders, said: “With so much uncertainty surrounding the future of the EU, it’s vital for the Fresh Start Project to sustain the momentum which it has generated over the last year.

“It has been FSP’s aim to do the legwork in researching and articulating how Britain could get a better deal from her membership of the EU.”