Miliband Affirms Labour Party Against UK Exiting EU During Campaign

Exit from the European Union would be a dramatic mistake for Britain and its economy, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said. He added that the party would not approve a public vote of whether to stay in the EU if his party won the 2015 elections.

MOSCOW, January 5 (Sputnik) — Ed Miliband said the UK Labour Party would not allow the United Kingdom to exit the European Union during a Salford, Greater Manchester, campaign launched Monday ahead of the May 2015 general elections.

“Make no mistake: exit from the EU would be a dramatic mistake for our country and our economy,” the party's leader Ed Miliband was quoted as saying by The Independent.

Miliband added that the Labour party would not approve a public vote of whether to stay in the EU if his party won the 2015 elections.

According to Miliband, Prime Minister David Cameron, who leads the Conservative party, was “playing risky irresponsible games” with the EU.

Meanwhile, Cameron stands by his pledge to hold a referendum in 2017 on whether the United Kingdom should keep its EU membership, if the conservative party wins the coming elections, adding that he would be “delighted” to stage an early referendum, as quoted by the newspaper.

While Miliband says exiting the EU would put at risk three million British jobs and would damage British companies, Cameron says the United Kingdom needs to regain control of its borders and independently negotiate "on the world stage."

The proposed EU referendum came after Cameron’s plans to introduce immigration quotas on nationals from other EU member states in the United Kingdom. The EU opposed the plans which it says are against the union’s principle of free movement between member states.