Cameron says Europe is "difficult issue" for Britain

Oct 25, 2011, 12:17 GMT

London - Prime Minister David Cameron conceded Tuesday that British membership of the European Union would remain a 'difficult issue' after he suffered a bruising setback in a parliamentary vote.

'There's no bad blood, there's no rancour, no bitterness,' Cameron said about the vote late Monday, which saw 81 deputies of his own Conservative Party defy his instruction and vote for Britain to hold a referendum on EU membership.

The result represented the biggest rebellion over the Europe issue ever inflicted on a Conservative prime minister since Britain joined the bloc in 1973. Britain has opted out of the euro, the European single currency.

Although the motion for a referendum, tabled by eurosceptic backbenchers in Cameron's party, was defeated with an overall result of 483 against 111 votes, the size of the rebellion against Cameron has clearly rattled the prime minister.

Mark Pritchard, a spokesman for the eurosceptic Tory right, said Europe was likely to become 'more, rather than less, of an issue' over the next few years.

Cameron, who describes himself as a 'liberal Conservative,' had managed to keep a lid on Tory discontent over Europe since he came to power at the head of a Conservative-Liberal coalition in May, 2010.

But the issue was brought to the fore through the referendum motion, as eurosceptics sought to exploit the crisis in the eurozone for their arguments that Britons should be free to vote on whether they wanted to be in our out of the EU - or renegotiate the terms of its membership.

The vote is also likely to make it more difficult for Cameron to operate on the European stage, where he has already been accused of giving unwelcome advice on the eurozone crisis while staying outside the single European currency.

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