David Cameron now appears to have been outfoxed by his own backbench and the Labour party on the European budget. A Downing Street spokeswoman confirmed this morning that while the opposition and a group of rebellious MPs will campaign for a real-terms cut in the multi-annual budget, the Prime Minister remains committed to negotiating for a real-terms freeze.
The spokeswoman said:
‘His position is a real terms freeze: there has not been a real terms freeze in the multi-annual budget in recent years. That’s what we are committed to negotiating for.’
As I blogged earlier today, moves are afoot within the Conservative party to push for a real-terms cut, and there is now no backbench motion supporting the Prime Minister. Mark Pritchard and Mark Reckless have joined forces on one amendment to Wednesday’s motion calling for a real terms cut, although this morning Conservative MPs believed there were two motions which called for a real-terms freeze and a real terms cut respectively, and were briefly grouping themselves around one or the other when they were in fact the same thing.
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