Prime Minister complainsof being ignored at summit

David Cameron complained that he was being ignored at a European Union summit on jobs and growth last night.

The Prime Minister formally raised objections in Brussels that his ideas for swift action on cutting red tape, boosting businesses and opening up the single market were not reflected in draft summit conclusions due to be approved today.

A dozen countries are signed up to the Plan for Growth in Europe, set out in a joint letter initiated by Mr Cameron and Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and circulated to all member states 10 days ago.

The letter emphasises the need to match the economic crisis response with a plan to “lay the foundations for strong and lasting economic recovery”.

A rival Franco-German letter has also set out steps towards recovery, but EU officials denied there was any significant difference of view about the direction to take out of the crisis.

However, Mr Cameron pointed out forcefully at the summit table that some suggestions in the Franco-German letter explicitly appeared in the draft conclusions – but none of the plans set out in his 12-state document.

A UK government source said the situation had “frustrated” Mr Cameron.