At the end of marathon talks in Brussels, the Prime Minister said he had achieved his negotiating aims and would be recommending the agreement to the British people in a referendum now expected to be held on June 23.
British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media. PIC/AFP
At the end of marathon talks in Brussels, the Prime Minister said he had achieved his negotiating aims and would be recommending the agreement to the British people in a referendum now expected to be held on June 23.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media. PIC/AFP
“This deal has delivered on the commitments I made at the beginning of this re-negotiation process. Britain will be permanently out of ‘ever closer union’, never part of a European superstate,” he said.
After finally securing the backing of the other 27 EU leaders for his plan, Cameron was heading back to London to brief senior ministers at a Saturday morning meeting of the Cabinet at No 10.
Mr Cameron said the deal would make the UK “stronger, safer and better off,” as he set out “to shape the destiny of the country” at the referendum. The new deal provides for a seven-year emergency brake on in-work benefits for EU migrant workers, as well as cuts in child benefit for their children living overseas — applicable immediately for new arrivals and from 2020 for the 34,000 existing claimants.