Meacher’s EU treaty blast for Cameron

DAVID Cameron’s decision to veto EU treaty changes will marginalise Britain and leave it impotent abroad, Michael Meacher has warned.

The Oldham West and Royton MP said “the sky has never looked darker in this generation” and Britain would now be marginalised, its influence with Washington, Beijing and New Delhi “thrown away” by David Cameron’s actions in Brussels last week.

Mr Cameron blocked changes to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, aimed at addressing the euro crisis and preventing a repeat in the future. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said the move was “bad for Britain”, and Mr Meacher believed the split in the coalition would result in a general election within the next 18 months.

The treaty changes needed the support of all 27 EU members to go ahead.

Mr Meacher said the decision was “solely to protect the City of London from regulation”.

He added: “The ripples from this supreme act of folly will go deep and wide. Cameron’s paramount desire to appease his 80 Europhobe back-benchers, merely a quarter of his own party and an eighth of all MPs, is a miscalculation which will cost him dear.”

Fellow Labour MP Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) agreed, saying of Mr Cameron: “While he continues to put party politics before what’s right for the country my worry is that he doesn’t see the wider implications of his actions.

“I seriously believe David Cameron is out of his depth. His negotiating failure will have a dramatic and detrimental impact on jobs and growth in Oldham East and Saddleworth and across the country.”