EU deal gives UK special status, says PM

David Cameron says a deal struck with EU leaders will give the UK “special status” and he will campaign with his “heart and soul” to stay in the union.

The PM said the agreement, reached late on Friday after two days of talks in Brussels, would include a seven-year “emergency brake” on welfare payments.

He added it also included changes to EU treaties and would be presented to his cabinet at 10:00 GMT.

EU exit campaigners said the “hollow” deal offered only “very minor changes”.

The agreement on renegotiating the UK’s EU membership was announced by European Council president Donald Tusk, who tweeted: “Deal. Unanimous support for new settlement for #UKinEU.”

It paves the way for the UK to hold an in/out referendum on EU membership, which has been promised by the end of 2017 but is expected in June this year.

‘In Britons’ hands’

Mr Tusk said it “strengthens Britain’s special status”, while EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker described it as “fair”.

Mr Tusk added: “We didn’t walk away from the negotiating table. We were willing to sacrifice part of our interests for the common good, to show our unity.

“I deeply believe the UK needs Europe and Europe needs the UK. But the final decision is in the hands of the British people.”

Once Mr Cameron has briefed his ministers at Saturday’s cabinet meeting, they will be free to campaign for either side in the referendum.

Mr Cameron said he would shortly announce the date of the vote and said he was “disappointed” but not surprised that one of his key allies, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, was to campaign for the UK to leave the EU.

Analysis by Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor

The ink is hardly dry on the UK’s EU deal, but immediately the focus has switched to the substance of what David Cameron has achieved and – possibly an awkward question – how many of his colleagues will argue against him.

The focus will move to whether the prime minister can keep his party politely together during a period of public disagreement.

The ability to restrict benefits to migrants is an important victory for Mr Cameron – ammunition for his argument that he has achieved changes to help reduce the number of EU migrants coming to live and work in the UK.

The proposals are complicated and do not exactly match the promises he made in the Conservative Party manifesto.

But with it – and the other commitments – it becomes harder for his critics to make the case that the agreement is flimsy and will change nothing.

Mr Cameron said he had achieved the reforms he wanted, claiming they would put the UK “in the driving seat” of one of the world’s biggest markets and create a “more flexible” EU.

“We have permanently protected the pound and our right to keep it,” he added, saying that, for the first time, the EU “has explicitly acknowledged it has more than one currency”.

The prime minister said he had also protected Britain from further political integration inside the EU, adding: “Let me put this as simply as I can: Britain will never be part of a European superstate.”

‘Milk and honey’

Outlining his case to remain “in a reformed Europe”, Mr Cameron said “turning our back on the EU is no solution at all”.

“We should be suspicious of those who claim that leaving Europe is an automatic fast-track to a land of milk and honey,” he added.

“The British people must now decide whether to stay in this reformed European Union or to leave. This will be a once-in-a-generation moment to shape the destiny of our country.”

BBC