British people are my only ‘boss’ on EU reform, says David Cameron

British people are my only ‘boss’ on EU reform, says David Cameron

PM hits back at criticism from José Manuel Barroso over plans to cap migrants from EU and signals in/out referendum in 2017

Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent

The Guardian, Monday 20 October 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/20/eu-leaders-conservative-plan-free-movement-cap-migrants-barroso

David Cameron has said the British people are his only “boss” on the EU as he hit back at criticism from the outgoing president of the European commission, José Manuel Barroso, who accused him of making an “historic mistake” on Europe.

As Downing Street sources confirmed that the prime minister would lay out plans before Christmas to curb the rights of EU migrants to work in Britain, Cameron said he would answer to the British people in a referendum in 2017.

Speaking during a visit to the Ford motor plant in Dagenham, east London, on Monday, Cameron said: “What we need in Britain is a renegotiation of our relationship with the EU and then a referendum where the British people decide do we stay in this reformed organisation or do we leave it.

“That’s what I will pursue, that’s what I will deliver, and at the heart of that renegotiation we need to address people’s concerns about immigration. I’m very clear about who the boss is, about who I answer to and it’s the British people. They want this issue fixed, they are not being unreasonable about it, and I will fix it.”

Downing Street confirmed that Cameron would respond to the Ukip threat by outlining plans to impose restrictions on migrants from current EU member states. No 10 sources declined to go into detail but it is understood that he will go further than his landmark Bloomberg speech of January 2013, which made no mention of immigration, according to the version on the Downing Street website.

The prime minister later addressed EU immigration in an Financial Times article in November 2013 but suggested that restrictions on current EU citizens would be limited to curbing benefit tourism.

Barroso warned that EU leaders would reject any attempt to tamper with “fundamental” elements of the EU, such as the free movement of people. He dismissed as “airy fairy” a proposal floated in the Sunday Times to cap the number of national insurance numbers issued to low-skilled citizens from certain EU member states if their numbers were too high.

Barroso, who stands down as commission president next month after 10 years, also took the rare step of quoting Margaret Thatcher as he rejected the cap, which appears to be aimed at limiting migration from poorer EU states in eastern Europe.

“What would be the criteria – the wealth of the country?” he asked. “Are we going to create a European Union of first and second-class citizens? No no.”

Thatcher rejected federalist proposals in 1990 by Jacques Delors, one of Barroso’s predecessors as commission president, with the words: “No, no, no”.

The Sunday Times reported that Cameron was planning to cap the number of national insurance numbers issued to EU immigrants with low skills. This would hit the 11 eastern European states that have joined since 2004. NI numbers could be issued for a limited period to ensure the prime minister delivers on his pledge to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands.

Barroso, who is the most anglophile commission president of the past 30 years, said that even countries that are traditionally not seen as friendly to Britain would like the UK to remain in the EU. He said that many member states agree with Cameron on the need to crack down on the abuse of benefits.

But Barroso said it would not be possible to agree to change the free movement of citizens, which has been guaranteed since the European economic community’s founding treaty of Rome in 1957.

He said: “When this discussion is progressing, some governments in Europe will say clearly: there is a limit to what we can offer you. There is a great willingness in European countries to accommodate British concerns. If there are concerns and if they don’t put in question fundamentals – why not?

“The sentiment in Europe is we should keep Britain in, and this is sincere even from countries that at first sight you would not consider instinctively pro-British. But there are red lines. Clearly there are red lines. I cannot tell you [what they are].

“I have been speaking to some colleagues from the European council – Angela Merkel and others – who are very sympathetic to the British staying in the EU. There are points they will not accept.”

Barroso mocked Grant Shapps, the Conservative party chairman, who had mocked him as an “unelected Eurocrat”. Pointing out that he served as an elected politician for 29 years in Portugal, Barroso said: “I was 12 years in the government of my country, as prime minister, as foreign minister. I don’t know who the gentleman is, but he certainly doesn’t have more democratic legitimacy than I have.”

Vince Cable, the business secretary who visited the car plant with Cameron, warned that the Tories were endangering investment from companies such as Ford. He told BBC News: “The industry, Ford, pointed out that much of their investment is predicated on the assumption that Britain remains a member of the European single market. I worry that, in this attempt to appease Ukip supporters, we are putting at risk our participation in this group which effects millions of jobs in the UK.”