Work and pensions secretary says Britain’s trading history predates EU and suggests it can continue outside fiscal union. Iain Duncan Smith has come close to suggesting that Britain could eventually thrive outside the European Union, declaring that such a strong country can stand tall on its own.
Amid reports that a cabinet minister considered resigning to join Eurosceptic rebels in last week’s Commons vote on the EU budget, the former Tory leader told The Andrew Marr Show that Britain’s long trading history predates its accession to the EEC.
But Duncan Smith, who first made his name as a Maastricht rebel in the early 1990s, stopped short of calling for British withdrawal.
The work and pensions secretary also offered strong support for David Cameron’s negotiating stance in the EU budget negotiations, in which Britain will press for a freeze in line with inflation.
The Mail on Sunday reported that a member of the cabinet considered resigning to join Tory rebels who combined with Labour last week to defeat the government over a demand for a real terms cut in the budget.
Duncan Smith said he disagreed with the rebels. He told the BBC1 programme of the prime minister’s tactics: “He would love to come back with a real terms cut. I would love him to be able to do it.
“But we don’t give enough credit to him – the first man to veto a European treaty. He has told us he will veto something [on the EU budget] that he cannot bring back to the British parliament. These are strong words compared to the last government and even governments before.”
Duncan Smith made clear that Britain would not be part of new governance arrangements for the eurozone that are due to be negotiated over the next few years. The coalition is agreed that moves to greater fiscal union in the eurozone are a matter for the 17 members of the single currency.
Asked whether Britain is big enough to survive outside the EU, the work and pensions secretary said: “I am an optimist about the UK. We have been involved in trade with our European partners, which we will always be doing whatever this relationship is.
“We are a member of the EU. That gives us benefits. But we have to figure out where that is going. In the world, we are a global trader already. We are more of a global trader than any country in Europe.
“I hate this argument that says little Britain or something outside, or Britain is part of a wider Europe. We can both be within our trading relationships within Europe but we can also be a fantastic global trader.
“We invest more in the US than any other country in the world … We have been a global trader all our lives. Your [Andrew Marr’s History of the World] programmes show what a fantastic history Britain has, as a remarkable country for good and trade around the world. That is what we are today as much as we were 100 years ago.
“My view isn’t that we could do necessarily outside the EU better then we are inside. It is that we can do it all. I don’t see why we shouldn’t have it all.