UK-EU Renegotiation

Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd February 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. We are still in the process of negotiation. The manifesto we all stood on said that we wanted to get the best possible deal for Britain and that we would all work on that together. That is exactly what we are doing. If the deal is agreed—whether in February or perhaps later, if it takes more time—there will then be a meeting of the Cabinet to decide whether we can take a recommended position to the British people. If that position is to recommend we stay in a reformed European Union then, yes, at that point Ministers, who, as I have said, have long-standing views and want to campaign in another direction, will be able to do that. The Government will still have a position. This is not a free-for-all. It will be a clear Government position from which Ministers can depart. Yes, as I have said, they should not suffer disadvantage because they want to take that view.

[Ms Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh (Ochil and South Perthshire) (SNP)]

The Prime Minister has now listened to the views of the EU President and the other 27 Heads of State in the European Union about his proposals. In the spirit of his very own one nation respect agenda, will he also now listen to the views of the Heads of Government in the devolved Parliaments of the United Kingdom, who are unilateral in their belief that his preferred referendum timetable, in scheduling a vote for the end of June, is disrespectful and wrong?

[The Prime Minister]

In terms of the respect agenda, my right hon. Friend the Europe Minister has had a number of conversations with the heads of the devolved Administrations and I think that is absolutely right. On the referendum date, I do not think we should get ahead of ourselves. We need an agreement first, but I really do not believe that a four-month period, and a good six weeks or more between one set of elections and another, is in any way disrespectful. I have great respect for the electorates of our countries. They are able to separate these issues and make a decision.