EU referendum: Foreign secretary Philip Hammond thinks EU will say no to new Conservative demand
One of the key demands made by a Eurosceptic Conservative group won't be accepted by the EU, Philip Hammond has warned.
The foreign secretary said a call for Westminster to be sovereign over EU law was “not achievable”, and that a "unilateral red card veto" for the UK would "effectively be the end" of the union.
The Conservatives for Britain group is formed of 50 tory MPs, all of whom want the UK to leave the EU if Prime Minister David Cameron is unable to get a good enough deal for Britain.
The Prime Minister has promised to hold an in-out referendum on EU membership by the end of 2017, but first is trying to renegotiate the UK's membership terms.
Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, Hammond said this group wanted to leave the EU no matter what, which didn't reflect the general public's sentiment.
“There was always going to be a group of our colleagues who want to come out of the EU come what may. That's not where the government is or where the majority of British people are.”
Instead, he said treaty change was needed, allowing any future measured agreed on, such as EU migrants' welfare entitlement, to be “sustained against judicial attack”.