Lord Lawson to lead Conservative movement to leave EU

The Eurosceptic peer, who presided over the Treasury under Margaret Thatcher, said he has taken the role as president of the Conservatives for Britain and will lead a cross-party exit movement ahead of the EU referendum, due to take place at the end of next year.

‘Wafer-thin reforms’

He warned that David Cameron will only secure “wafer-thin” reforms of the EU and said it is time for the Prime Minister and Chancellor George Osborne to set out “red lines” in the renegotiation of the UK’s membership.

“A number of my colleagues in the Conservative party are waiting to see what the Prime Minister negotiates before deciding which way they will vote or whether they will campaign for ‘in’ or ‘out’,” he wrote.

“We cannot afford to wait that long.

“If we leave the playing field vacant, less moderate, xenophobic voices will dominate the debate and we will fail as soon as the Government, the major political parties, the CBI and trade unions declare they are backing the ‘in’ campaign.”

He added: “If we were able to secure those reforms I would be delighted. But if we are not I will certainly vote to leave.

“Sadly, the latter is far more likely…”

‘No economic benefit’

Lord Lawson’s intervention comes during discussions involving Mr Cameron, Mr Osborne and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU.

Lawson said he believed it was “highly unlikely” that any significant reforms would be secured.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I would like to see a profoundly reformed European Union with reforms embedded by genuine treaty change but it has been made quite clear by everybody in positions of responsibility in the European Union that that’s not going to happen.”

“Because it is entirely a political venture there is no economic benefit at all,” he added. “Indeed, economically it is damaging us.”

UKIP launched its own campaign for Britain to leave the EU in early September, with leader Nigel Farage saying the campaign would “get outside the confines of Westminster” and “reach real people”.

Growing support

Asked if he would share a platform with Leave.EU, another No campaign group founded by former Ukip donor Arron Banks, Lord Lawson responded: “No.”

“We welcome others to come and support us, we are not going to support anybody else but we are open to all sorts of others from all parties and none to come and rally to the Conservatives for Britain group.”

A recent YouGov poll showed 40 per cent of voters now backed a British exit – or ‘Brexit’ – from the EU. Only 38 per cent would prefer if the UK stayed.
Of other respondents, 16 per cent said they did not know whether the UK should stay or leave the EU, and six per cent said they wouldn’t vote.