UK PM pledges in/out referendum on EU

The prime minister said he wanted to renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU, before asking people to vote.

The British people would face a "very simple choice", he stated, either to accept the result of the talks or to leave the EU altogether.

France and Germany both warned the UK could not "cherry pick" EU membership.

Labour said Mr Cameron was "weak" and being driven by "party interest", while the PM's coalition partner, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said "years of uncertainty" caused by a future referendum would hit jobs and growth and "was not in the national interest".

In a long-awaited speech, welcomed by many Conservative MPs, Mr Cameron pledged to hold a referendum during the early part of the next parliament - by the end of 2017 at the latest - if the Conservatives win the next general election, BBC News reports.

He said it would be a decision on the UK's "destiny" and, if he secured a new relationship he was happy with, he would campaign "heart and soul" to stay within the EU.

"It is time for the British people to have their say," he said. "It is time to settle this European question in British politics. I say to the British people: this will be your decision."

However, Mr Cameron did not spell out what powers he would like to see the UK take back as part of a new settlement or what would happen if the negotiations did not go his way.

Full story