EU Membership (Renegotiation)

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Foreign and Commonwealth Office – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 3 March 2015.

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Photo of Philip Hammond Philip Hammond Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 11:30, 3 March 2015

That is exactly what we are doing. The hon. Gentleman seems to subscribe to the view of the world in which Britain sits isolated on the edge. We are a major player in Europe. We have the second largest economy in Europe. We are leading the way in so many areas within the European Union. We have to seize this opportunity to shape the European Union in a way that works for Britain. It went off the rails somewhere over the past 20 years, and we must take this opportunity of reform and renegotiation to get it back on the rails. Crucially, we must then let the British people have the final say on whether the package we have negotiated is good enough or not.