David Cameron allows free hand on EU referendum

David Cameron is to allow ministers to campaign for either side in the referendum once a deal is reached on the UK’s relationship with the European Union.

He has also hinted he will not resign if he loses the EU vote – as he warned a deal may take “considerably longer” to agree.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Prime Minister’s insistence that the government will have a “clear position” on Britain’s EU membership despite ministers being allowed to campaign to stay in or get out will make Britain a laughing stock.

He spoke after Mr Cameron confirmed normal rules would be suspended and ministers could campaign for either side once the renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership was complete.

Mr Cameron insisted British voters would make the choice about Britain’s future in the EU although “come what may I will continue to lead the government in the way I have”.

The SNP’s leader at Westminster, Angus Robertson, demanded a guarantee that the people of Scotland would not be “taken out of the EU against their will”.

Mr Cameron replied that Scotland had voted to remain part of the UK.

The Prime Minister told MPs he hopes a deal will be reached on Britain’s negotiation demands by February although he conceded it could take much longer.

Replying to Mr Cameron’s Commons statement on the EU, Mr Corbyn said the PM’s renegotiation had failed to deliver significant reform because he did not have enough allies in Europe.

He told the Commons: “Can you really be surprised at your failure when you haven’t worked with negotiating partners in Europe, failed even to turn up when asked for help in the European refugee crisis?

“To deliver change you need patient, effective diplomacy and you need to make friends.

“We all value our friends, but you are not interested in that – you are more interested in your own party. You are really playing politics rather than putting forward the interests of the people of this country.”

Mr Cameron had earlier set out his plans for how the government will conduct itself in the lead-up to the referendum, to be held before the end of 2017.

His decision to allow openly Eurosceptic ministers to campaign to quit the EU marks a significant shift from the usual assumption of collective government responsibility.

In his statement on last month’s European Council, he said: “As I indicated before Christmas, there will be a clear government position, but it will be open to individual ministers to take a different personal position while remaining part of the government.

“Ultimately, it will be for the British people to decide this country’s future by voting in or out of a reformed EU in the referendum that only we promised, and that only a Conservative-majority government was able to deliver.”