UK PM Cameron says will let ministers campaign for EU exit
British Prime Minister David Cameron bowed to pressure to allow government ministers to campaign to leave the European Union in an upcoming referendum, heading off the prospect of multiple resignations from his top team.
Cameron wants to keep Britain in the bloc if he can persuade other EU leaders to agree to his demands for reform before a vote expected to take place later this year, though he has cautioned he could campaign to leave if he doesn't get a deal.
His move to prevent cabinet-level resignations over Europe means ministers will take opposing sides in the referendum campaign over an issue that has divided Cameron's Conservative Party for more than three decades.
"There will be a clear government position but it will be open to individual ministers to take a different personal position while remaining part of the government," Cameron told parliament during an update on his renegotiation.
Cameron said he hoped to reach a deal with other EU leaders at a Feb 17-18 summit. Ministers would be expected to stick to the government's existing position until a deal was reached.
A referendum could follow about four months after a deal.
A British exit would rock the Union - already shaken by differences over migration and the future of the euro zone - by ripping away its second-largest economy, one of its top two military powers and by far its richest city, London.
Pressed by lawmakers over his own future, Cameron - who has said he will not lead his party into the next parliamentary election due in 2020 - said he would not resign in the event of a 'no' vote in the EU referendum.
"This is the choice of the British people ... they can either choose to stay in a reformed European Union or to leave the European Union and come what may I will continue to lead the government in the way I have," he said.