Now what was all that about the UK's veto?
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Senior Tories campaigning to keep Britain in the EU are hopeful that the referendum is swinging their way. They believe that opinion polls in recent days, which have given the Remain side a noticeable lead, show that a series of warnings about the impact of a British exit from Barack Obama, the IMF and the Bank of England are hitting home.
But the Leave side insists there is all to play for in the last five weeks of the campaign. One of their leading lights, former Conservative Defence Secretary Liam Fox, is highlighting what he regards as a powerful weapon for the Leave campaign. He has dubbed this the Strange Case of the Missing Veto.
In an interview for Newsnight, the former defence secretary said that people have overlooked a crucial element of David Cameron's deal with fellow EU leaders in February which prompted the prime minister to trigger the referendum.
This was Mr Cameron's decision to relinquish the UK veto if eurozone leaders eventually decide to underpin new governance arrangements for the single currency in a revision of the Lisbon treaty.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politic...endum-36330025
Quote:
Britain, along with every other EU member state, has the right to veto any EU treaty revision. But in exchange for the concessions he won from fellow EU leaders in February, the prime minister said he would put away the famous Thatcher handbag and actually go further by supporting further integration in the eurozone.
Mr Fox told me this is a profound mistake which will weaken the UK's hand in the EU.
"Even if there is something that is harmful to the UK's interests we have already agreed in advance to implement it. That is what it is to be a sitting duck or at least that is what it will be if we choose to remain in the EU.
"What we have done ahead of this next treaty is we have written a blank cheque to Europe that said you can put on that anything you want and we will guarantee to cash it," he said.
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So the EU is so concerned that we stay in the club that we have to lose out veto to do so...