Hopeful UK PM: Britain should not leave EU

LONDON - Reuters

British PM Cameron thinks it is possible to change and reform the EU. AFP Photo

British Prime Minister David Cameron took on critics yesterday in his own Conservative party, saying it would be wrong for Britain to leave the European Union.

Some pessimists “say there is no prospect of reforming the European Union, you simply have to leave. I think they are wrong ... I think it is possible to change and reform this organization,” Cameron told an investment conference. He came under renewed pressure from EU skeptics this week when former finance minister Nigel Lawson said the premier’s plan to renegotiate Britain’s commitments to the EU before a planned membership referendum in 2017 were doomed to fail and the country should leave the bloc.

Cameron used his speech to underscore his determination to keep on narrowing Britain’s budget deficit at a “sensible and measured pace” and to help push for new trade deals between the EU and the United States and Canada.