David Cameron moots EU referendum

“I will go to parliament and propose that the British people decide our future in Europe through an in-out referendum on Europe on Thursday the 23rd of June,” he said. Cameron, speaking outside his Number 10 Downing Street residence, said the cabinet had approved a government position recommending Britain stay in a reformed EU.

Cameron met senior ministers to win endorsement of an EU deal he hopes will persuade voters to ratify Britain’s membership of the world’s largest trading bloc at a referendum likely to be held in June. 

Cameron hailed a deal clinched with other European Union leaders at a summit in Brussels as granting Britain special status and said he would campaign hard to convince voters to stay in the bloc that Britain joined in 1973. “I will be campaigning with all my heart and soul to persuade the British people to remain in the reformed European Union,” Cameron said after securing the deal that was approved by all the other 27 EU leaders. 

While one of Cameron’s closest political allies, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, will campaign to leave the EU, finance minister George Osborne and interior minister Theresa May backed Cameron.