British
PM Cameron will let ministers campaign for EU exit, source says
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[January 05, 2016]
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime
Minister David Cameron will let government ministers campaign to leave
the European Union in an upcoming referendum, a source in his office
said on Tuesday.
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Cameron is seeking to renegotiate Britain's EU ties before a vote
due by the end of next year. He has said he wants Britain to remain
in a reformed EU, but he does not rule out leaving if he can't get
key changes to Britain's relationship with the bloc.
Europe has divided the Conservatives for three decades. It played a
major part in the downfall of Cameron's two Conservative
predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
Up to a third of Cameron's cabinet - including Home Secretary
Theresa May, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, Business Secretary
Sajid Javid and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith - have
expressed euro-sceptic sentiments.
 There has been speculation that some euro-sceptic ministers would
have resigned as ministers if he had forced them to campaign for
membership.
Cameron is due to update parliament on his EU renegotiation later on
Tuesday, and a source in his office said he would "give a strong
signal" that so-called collective responsibility would effectively
be suspended for the EU referendum.
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"He will make clear collective responsibility continues to apply all
the way up until a deal is done .... at that point clearly the
government will take a position on the deal," said the source, who
declined to be named.
"If there are some individual ministers who want to campaign in a
different way, he will make clear that will be accommodated."
(Reporting by Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Guy
Faulconbridge, Larry King)
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