Cooper: Cameron ‘desperately trying to appear tough’

Yvette Cooper MP, shadow foreign secretary, comments on David Cameron’s attempt to impose a real-terms freeze on the EU Budget:

“David Cameron has achieved little for Britain. The EU Budget is still going up by 2.9 per cent this year, and there is no serious plan to get the budget down in future years. There is no agreement to even discuss serious reforms on things like the Common Agricultural Policy that could cut the budget.

“We welcome the agreement on a permanent crisis mechanism for the eurozone after 2013, but this council has not addressed the challenges Europe’s economy faces right now. There is little to improve eurozone stability in the short term, and no serious strategy to support growth and jobs across Europe, so Britain’s exports are still at risk.

“In reality David Cameron is desperately trying to appear tough in front of his eurosceptic backbenchers at home, but is failing to appease them. He has offered nothing of substance other than agreeing to give more money to the EU.”