Why won’t David Cameron come clean about his EU migrant benefits deal?

For the last three years, David Cameron has held out the prospect of voting ‘no’ in the referendum if he could not get the deal he wanted. Today he has – unsurprisingly – claimed victory. Yes, he says, there’s more to do on the draft deal – but it not too much because what he’s got is enough. He’s already in full referendum campaign mode, so made his statement to workers in Chippenham, saying:

‘If I could get these terms for British membership, I sure would opt in’

But how much of a compromise has it been? Cameron looked a little shifty as he was spoke ‘emergency brake’ on in-work benefits for migrants. His manifesto pledge is clear: he wanted to deny in-work benefits to immigrants for four years. As Isabel has explained, he has ended up with something far less than that. So how to explain?

‘What we’ve got is basically something I’ve asked for which is that people should not be able to come here and get instant access.