Cameron at pains to show Britain was not isolated in EU Budget talks

David Cameron took great pains in his statement to the Commons on the EU budget summit to emphasise the alliances that Britain had formed in trying to keep the budget down. He started by telling MPs that Britain had worked ‘together with like-minded allies from a number of countries’, and repeatedly used words such as ‘together’ and references to ‘we – and others’. This was important as one of the key lines of attack that Labour has tried to make since last year’s veto is that Britain is standing isolated in Europe.

Labour struggled to make an impact, both in Miliband’s response to Cameron’s statement and during the ensuing debate. The Labour leader asked why the Prime Minister had not thanked the House of Commons ‘for sending him into the talks with the strongest possible mandate’, and he referred to splits in the Tory party over the issue of Europe, saying: