David Cameron defended his decision to veto a new EU treaty and insisted he was taking the “right course for this country”.
The Prime Minister was greeted by cheers from the Tory benches as he made a Commons statement, but Labour MPs drew attention to the absence of Deputy PM and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, who described the outcome of last week’s summit as a “bitter disappointment”.
The Liberal Democrat leader said that he did not want to provice a “distraction” by appearing in his usual place at the Prime Minister’s side as Mr Cameron told MPs that he had taken “the right course for this country” at the Brussels summit.
Mr Cameron told MPs: “I went to Brussels with one objective: to protect Britain’s national interest, and that is what I did.”
But Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Cameron had “given up our seat at the table” in Europe.
Mr Cameron said: “We went seeking a deal at 27 (member states) and I responded to the German and French proposal for treaty change in good faith, genuinely looking to reach an agreement at the level of the whole of the European Union with the necessary safeguards for Britain.
“Those safeguards, on the single market and on financial services, were modest, reasonable and relevant.
“We were not trying to create an unfair advantage for Britain.”
He continued: “We were not asking for a UK opt-out or special exemption or a generalised emergency brake on financial services legislation, they were safeguards sought for the EU as a whole.”
Nor was the Government “trying to go soft on the banks”, he added.
“Of course I wish those safeguards had been accepted, but frankly I have to tell the House the choice was a treaty without proper safeguards or no treaty and the right answer was no treaty. It was not an easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do.”
Mr Cameron insisted the UK remained a “full member” of the EU and last week’s summit did not change that.
But he repeated his belief in an EU with “the flexibility of a network, not the rigidity of a bloc”.
Although the UK would not be part of the new arrangements being agreed between the other EU governments, Mr Cameron acknowledged there would still be risks for the country.
“Those countries are going to be negotiating a treaty that passes unprecedented powers from their nation states to Brussels.
“Some will have budgets effectively checked and re-written by the European Commission. None of this will happen in Britain, but just as we wanted safeguards for Britain’s interests if we changed the EU treaty, so we will continue to be vigilant in protecting our national interest.”