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[/audioplayer]We have just had a very insular general election campaign, but the mood at Westminster is now determined by news from foreign capitals. There was a flurry of excitement last Wednesday when the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaüble, suggested linking the British renegotiation to eurozone reform. It led to much talk of a European ‘Grand Bargain’, with Germany and the northern European countries given greater supervision of eurozone finances, the French and the southern Europeans given an explicit, written commitment to ‘solidarity’ within the currency union, and the British offered single-market protections, an opt-out from ‘ever closer union’ and the welfare changes it wants.
If this deal could be secured, a major Tory split over Europe would be averted. In these circumstances, 80 per cent of Tory MPs would back staying in, according to one experienced Eurosceptic campaigner.
But the weekend ended on a very different note.
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