"Cameron has played a dangerous game and lost" says Euro MP Sharon Bowles (Sharon Bowles MEP)

Sharon Bowles MEP <info@sharonbowles.org.uk>

"Cameron has played a dangerous game and lost" says Euro MP Sharon Bowles

December 9, 2011 2:35 PM

The British chair of the European Parliament's influential Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Sharon Bowles MEP, has said today that "David Cameron has played a dangerous game and lost."

Speaking on BBC2's The Daily Politics programme this afternoon, Ms Bowles said:

"You can't separate the Single Market and financial services. We should have put our financial services eggs in the Single Market basket.

"The way in which the UK is isolated now is very damaging. We played, we lost, and now we are worse off."

Adding to her comments on the programme, Ms Bowles said:

"The point of the summit in Brussels was to fix the Eurozone. However, under pressure from Eurosceptics in his party, Cameron has decided effectively to relegate the UK to the sidelines of Europe.

"The UK needs to get back in the club and stop undermining its standing as a valuable member of the EU.

"Cameron's veto was meant to be a show of strength, a way of telling the French and Germans that the UK and the City of London will protect itself at any cost. Now, without a place at the negotiating table, we may not get to influence those very policies that will impact on the City and our financial sector as a whole. This misses the point that much of the EU considers it needs protecting from the City of London, a sentiment shared with taxpayers and indeed our own ongoing approach to banking legislation.

"The UK will now have to work doubly hard to rebuild its relations and reputation with our European allies, to regain influence, and be able to stand up for our national interests, including strengthening the Single Market and focusing the EU on creating growth and jobs for the future. I will continue to play my part in that."

ENDS