British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday played down the prospect of a referendum any time soon on whether Britain should leave the European Union, defying calls from within his Conservative Party and the public.

Cameron is expected to explain how he wants to change Britain’s relationship with the EU this week, in a speech that could set a course for leaving the 27-member bloc, deepen fractures within his own party, and strain ties with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

A weekend poll by influential website Conservative Home found that 78 per cent of Conservative Party members either want Britain’s relationship with the EU reduced to access to its common market or to leave the bloc altogether.

“If we had an in-out referendum tomorrow, or very shortly, I don’t think that would be the right answer for the simple reason that I think we would be giving people a false choice,” Cameron told BBC radio.

“Right now I think there are a lot of people who say ‘I would like to be in Europe, but I’m not happy with every aspect of the relationship, so I want it changed’. That is my view.”

Conservative infighting over Europe helped topple previous party leaders, and splits on the issue appear to be deepening as Cameron’s speech nears.

Meanwhile Cameron’s official spokesman said yesterday that the British Prime Minister will deliver a major speech on January 18 in The Netherlands spelling out how he wants to renegotiate his country’s relationship with the European Union.

“He sees it as important to set out his view about it being in the British national interest to remain in the European Union, though (with) a changed relationship,” the spokesman said.

Cameron has repeatedly said he wants Britain to remain in the EU but has made it clear he intends to try to repatriate a wide range of powers from the bloc in policy areas where his ruling Conservative party believes Brussels’ influence has become overbearing and pernicious.

Cameron faces a dilemma. Many MPs in his own party are pressuring him to call a fully-fledged referendum on whether Britain should remain in the EU, a demand backed by opinion polls which show a slim majority of Britons would, if given the chance, vote to leave the 27-nation bloc.

But business leaders in Britain have said they are strongly opposed to the prospect of the country radically downgrading ties with its biggest trading partner, while international partners from the United States to Germany and Ireland have made it clear they oppose a British EU exit and think such a move would isolate and damage Britain itself.

“The audience will be a mixture of business representatives, European diplomats and other interested parties,” Cameron’s spokesman said.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, a Conser-vative, said on Sunday he hoped it was in Britain’s interest to stay in the EU, but “we shouldn’t stay at any price”.

Both pro and anti-Europe senior politicians stepped up their campaigns over the weekend, with eurosceptic Conservative group “Fresh Start” pledging to demand a radical repatriation of powers from Brussels this week.

On the other side of the debate, Conservative Party grandee Michael Heseltine said on aturday Cameron’s plan to change Britain’s relationship with the EU was an “unnecessary gamble”, and put the country’s status as a business destination at risk.

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