Nicky Morgan fires first salvo by pro-EU ministers

United Kingdom cabinet ministers with conflicting views on whether the UK should stay in the European Union began campaigning on the issue in January 2016 even before the UK Government had completed its negotiations with the EU on the issue.

Eurosceptic Chris Grayling, leader of the House of Commons, argued on the 13 January 2016 that staying in the EU as it was currently run and organised would be disastrous for the UK.

Pro-EU Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, warned in an article in The Observer on the 17 January 2016 that a UK exit would cut the country off from the rest of the world and limit the freedom of young people to study and find jobs in the European Union.

Separately, Politico reported that a Eurosceptic former minister Nick Herbert had launched Conservatives for Reform in Europe (CRE) to argue the case for the United Kingdom to stay under renegotiated terms.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: British government set to argue against itself on Brexit vote http://www.europeansources.info/record/british-government-set-to-argue-against-itself-on-brexit-vote/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

Politico, 17.01.16: Cameron: Britain should be a ‘2nd-tier’ EU member http://www.politico.eu/article/brexit-eu-referendum-second-tier-membership/

BBC News, 17.01.16: Leaving EU would be 'a jump into a void' for the UK http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35336744

The Guardian, 17.01.16: 10m UK homes to receive pro-Europe campaign leaflet http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/17/britain-stronger-in-europe-eu-campaign-leaflet-uk

Politico, 18.01.16: David Cameron: ‘I am very suspicious of Brussels’ http://www.politico.eu/article/david-cameron-i-am-very-suspicious-of-brussels/

---