Cameron's policy is 'disaster' for UK

A former Europe minister has said the Conservatives' foreign policy is a "disastrous blow" to Britain's national interest.

 

In an interview with ePolitix.com Denis MacShane, who still advises the government on European affairs, also said that if Gordon Brown became prime minister he could help transform the EU economy.

 

In relation to the Tories' ambition to split from the European People's Party grouping of centre right parties, MacShane said: "David Cameron once said to me: 'Denis, I am much more Eurosceptic than you realise.'

 

"So you have a situation where the Tories under Cameron are now further to the right than they were under Michael Howard or Iain Duncan Smith. The Tories' rupture with political parties in Europe is a disastrous blow to Britain's national interest," he added.

 

And referring to the UK's need for allies post-Iraq, MacShane went on: "Britain needs all the friends it can find at the moment and for the main opposition party to say to all of its sister parties in Europe 'drop dead we don't want to touch you with a barge pole' is incredibly negative and very bad for the interests of the UK."

 

On how a Brown-led government would approach Europe as compared to Blair MacShane said: "I don't see any substantial difference. I think Gordon Brown has been right to insist that Europe has got to wake up economically and the number one problem in Europe in the last 15 years has been lack of growth.

 

"I don't think Europe will regain political confidence until it recovers economic dynamism.

 

"Otherwise Ed Balls has been making some very pro-European speeches, heaping praise on European commissioners, which is a rare thing to hear.

 

"He has also been pointing out that the EU is an important challenge to a Brown administration and that if we want to solve many of our problems from crime and terrorism to immigration and the environment then we have to do it with Europe," he said.