Blair attacks Cameron’s plans for EU referendum

TONY BLAIR, Britain’s former Labour party Prime Minister, has launched a major attack over David Cameron’s plan for an EU referendum in the UK.

Speaking at a news conference Blair said that a European Union referendum would potentially do “significant damage to the UK economy” and was an “unacceptable gamble” with Britain’s future.

He went on to say: “I believe passionately that leaving Europe would leave Britain diminished in the world, do significant damage to our economy and, less obviously but just as important to our future, would go against the very qualities and ambitions that mark us out still as a great global nation.”

Blair, who has largely stayed out of frontline politics since he stepped down in 2007, also put his support behind Ed Miliband, the current Labour leader, who refused to back an EU referendum after the upcoming election in May. He said that Miliband had shown real leadership by doing so.

David Cameron has openly supported an EU referendum, saying that if the Conservative Party were re-elected he would arrange an EU referendum in 2017. This comes at a time when the future of the Europe is far from certain, with a real possibility of Greece leaving the Union.

Spain has also seen a growth in anti-European views, with a great deal of anger being voiced at EU-imposed austerity measures.