The most significant thing about today’s PMQs was Ed Miliband’s choice of subject matter: EU membership. If Labour once feared its stance on the issue was a weakness, it now regards it as a strength. After being rebuked by Angela Merkel for his demand to abandon the free movement of people, it is ever harder for David Cameron to argue that he can secure the reforms he believes are necessary for Britain to remain in the EU. As a result, he is being forced to flirt with the possibility of withdrawal.
Pressed by Miliband on whether he was prepared to campaign for an “out” vote (an option he previously ruled out), the PM filibustered. “I want Britain to stay in a reformed European Union,” he said. But is it possible to reform Europe? Many Conservative MPs no longer believe it is, a divide Miliband skillfully exploited today. “There’s no point giving us the ‘fight them on the beaches’ speech because the last time he tried that was over Jean-Claude Juncker and he lost 26 votes to 2. That’s his leadership in Europe,” he said, and the Tory benches were notably muted.
In contrast to Cameron, Miliband was unambiguous: “I want to stay in the EU”. As well as being buoyed by polls showing support for membership at a 23-year high, Labour regards its commitment to the EU as one of its few trump cards on business (Miliband told Cameron that business leaders would have their “heads in their hands” over his stance – and many do ). But a significant number of Labour MPs continue to fear that Cameron’s charge that the party is too “chicken” to “trust the people” is one that could hurt it during the election campaign.
With the aid of an arsenal of critical Labour quotes, Cameron held his own in the chamber. He noted that Alistair Darling (“about the only person on the Labour benches who had any economic credibility”) had argued that an EU referendum was inevitable (“It’s a boil that has to be lanced”), that shadow deputy leader of the House Thomas Docherty had warned Labour was in a “dreadful position” and that even John Prescott was now giving Miliband lectures on the English language (although the sight of Cameron deriding the working class northerner is unlikely to have endeared him to all).
The other notable point from today’s session was the co-ordinated Labour assault on PM over VAT. With Cameron again refusing to rule out another rise, it is clear this will be a key election attack line for the opposition.
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