Tory MPs react to Cameron's EU veto (Rolling Blog)

6.15pm Andrew Rosindell MP praised David Cameron's "bulldog spirit":

"It’s a historic sort-of shift for Britain; it does mean that we can think more freely about where we want to be in the long-term. I think the great majority of British people don’t want to be part of political union. We want free trade and co-operation, but we don’t want to be tied into a straitjacket, and that is something that we need to address in the coming years, and I’ve no doubt David Cameron will understand that and will take that forward. He’s proved, as Prime Minister, that he’s prepared to put Britain first, and that’s what he’s done ... We never had a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty, so there are issues that need to be addressed, but at least we have a Prime Minister that understands what matters to Britain, and is prepared to stand up for our country, put Britain first, and show the bulldog spirit, and that’s what David Cameron did this week."

3.45pm Lord Heseltine appeared on BBC News this afternoon:

"I think that the immediate reaction is the Prime Minister secured the objectives, the two objectives that he had. One was to give encouragement to the eurozone members to sort out their problems, because he recognises the immense damage that collapse of the euro could have in this country, and the second, more complicated objective, but very important, is to protect the interests of the City of London, so he wasn’t prepared to give away any sort of negotiating position or any degree of national control in the middle of the night on Thursday."

2pm Mark Reckless MP told Sky News about his expectation of support for the Prime Minister amongst MPs:

"I think when the Prime Minister makes his statement on Monday he is going to be exceptionally well received on the Conservative benches. He kept his word. He said that if we didn't get protection for the City he would veto the treaty. He didn't get that protection so he vetoed the treaty. I think many of my colleagues will see this as an opportunity to develop a new relationship with Europe whereas a country we become independent once again, trading with Europe but governing ourselves and making our own arrangements with Europe - like the Swiss do - while the EU-26 go ahead with fiscal union with the union."

12.15pm John Redwood MP told Sky News:

"I am a Conservative, and it is my job to urge the Coalition Government to reflect more fully the very strong Conservative opinion on this issue where I think we are in touch with the mood of the country, where the polls show that about four out of five people agree with us that we want less Europe. They don't agree with the Liberal Democrats. ... The UK isn't afraid of Germany, and we are happy to look Germany in the eye and say we don't agree on this and we want to do something different. A lot of the smaller countries near Germany are scared and they have to go along with a German Europe."

11.30am Nadhim Zahawi MP told Radio 4's "The Week in Westminster":

"We are going to see the detail of what [the 17] are proposing, but I don't see this as being necessarily negative. They already have the Euro, which is something that the 17 of them agreed on that has not harmed us. They have had other things that haven't harmed us either. I don't see this as one of those seminal moments in history that we are suddenly seen to be isolated in some way. We are still an economic power and buy more from Europe than we export to it."

11am Michael Fallon MP, Deputy Chairman of the Party, told BBC News:

"The eurozone want to move ahead now and pool their sovereignty and have decisions over tax and spending taken centrally by Brussels and so on. We don't want to be part of that. We want them to get on with it, to sort out the eurozone crisis, because it has been spreading across and slowing down economies right across Europe. We wish them well in that but we certainly don't want our tax and spending decisions taken in Brussels. We are going to protect that."

Saturday 7am:

George Eustice MP in the FT (£):

"The truth is that today, Europe unites rather than divides Tories and they will all support the stance Mr Cameron adopted at this summit. They will judge him favourably because of how hard he has tried rather than what was achieved. There is a pragmatism within the new parliamentary party but underlying that patience is a steely resolve to see a new relationship between Britain and the EU: one in which, as Mr Cameron said in his Mansion House speech, powers ebb back to Britain rather than flow away."

John Redwood MP on his blog:

"The numbers of Conservative rebels will doubtless wax and wane, but there is now a hard core of at least 45 who are likely to vote against unsuitable EU measures, meaning the Coalition needs some Labour support or help should they want to put through more EU decisions."

Robert Halfon MP on his blog:

"Britain's veto was of huge importance. It is the first shift away from the ratchet effect of European integration for many years. It shows that the UK will no longer accept the unacceptable transfer of powers away from our nation state. It also opens up a real possibility of a fundamental renegotiation of our relationship with the EU: as part of a co-operative free-trading bloc within a European Economic Community - rather than being an inexorable part of a federal superstate."

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5.45pm Mark Reckless MP has recorded a video-blog, in which he says: 

"Our Prime Minister has shown that he is a man of his word... David Cameron said that unless he got a protocol to protect the City from European regulation that he would veto the European treaty. He didn't get that protocol...and he vetoed the treaty as he promised he would, and I just think restoring faith in politics is so important, and I think the Prime Minister has helped do that."

5.45pm The Daily Express reports on Boris' praise for the PM:

"The Mayor of London said: "David Cameron has done the only thing that it was really open to him to do. He has played a blinder.""

5.15pm Mark Pritchard MP issued the following statement:

"I welcome the Prime Minister's stand. He is to be given credit. However it is now clear that the United Kingdom's relationship with the EU will significantly change given the emergence of a new inner EU-bloc, a dominant bloc. This new bloc is a major power shift, and establishes a new paradigm in the way the Eurozone and the wider EU will do future business. The UK has the full legal rights of all the other EU members. If these rights are abused then the UK should use its considerable budget contribution to the EU as leverage in its interests. The unintended consequence of these negotiations is that it seems more, not less likely that there will be an EU referendum on the UK's relationship with the EU within this Parliament, which is something our Coalition partners have also agreed upon in their last election manifesto. Today is a good day for British sovereignty"

4.30pm VIDEO Cameron has created path to "full renegotiation" of UK's EU relationship, claims Bill Cash MP

3pm Douglas Carswell told PoliticsHome: 

"The events in Brussels show that we have changed direction. We have got a long way to go, but I think people will be supportive of David Cameron for doing the right thing. What we need to do is make absolutely clear that there is no scope for changing the small print of the deal. ... The idea of a new architecture of the EU that we are not part of is incredibly, incredibly exciting, and has the possibility of giving us a better relationship with the EU. We must make sure that we actually deliver the change."

2.30pm Lord Tebbit has just blogged for the Telegraph: 

"At last! When all other options had been exhausted, David Cameron has done the right thing. By refusing to sign up to changes in the Treaty of Rome (which is now, after amendments, really the Treaty of Lisbon) the Prime Minister has adopted the policy which, in a conversation with Giscard d'Estaing, I described as “getting the British dog out of the European federal manger”. ... Whether Cameron's decision was made out of conviction and understanding of these great issues, out of fear that his party would split with a majority led by dissident Cabinet colleagues against him, or out of fear that demands for a referendum would become irresistible, we cannot know. We should just be grateful that he made it."

1.45pm Stewart Jackson MP has just told Radio 4's World at One that this was the best outcome for Britain at an EU summit since Margaret Thatcher negotiated the rebate at Fontainebleau in 1984.

David Davis MP told Paul Waugh:

"David Cameron has done exactly the right thing. The British government demands were utterly reasonable. The fact that they were rejected demonstrates a change in attitude on the part of Germany, France and the European Commission, a new assertiveness on their part. This is a harbinger of things to come and it means we have to think very hard about what this new relationship is going to be."

Nadine Dorries MP blogged: 

"The next few days will be full of praise for his decision and rightly so, he finally displayed a degree of courage, even if only because the back benchers held his feet to the fire in order to get there. However, the prospect of a trading block of 23 countries is a far greater threat to British interests than the seventeen we were facing yesterday and this will raise new questions in Parliament."

John Baron MP, for ConservativeHome earlier today:

"There have been some seminal moments in the history of the European Union, and the Prime Minister’s wielding of the veto last night may turn out to be one of them. We are on the cusp of a once in a lifetime opportunity to recast our relationship with the EU for the better. The Prime Minister must now seize this moment."

Charlie Elphicke MP, writing for ConservativeHome this morning said:

"Ahead of the EU Summit, David Cameron made it clear that his priorities were to support the survival of the Euro and protect the City of London. By sticking to his guns and refusing to give in last night he has shown real strength."