Bloomberg speech

The Bloomberg speech was a party political address on Europe given by David Cameron, who was then Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron. Although during the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition, it was given without the support of the then Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

Content

The speech on 23 January 2013 at Bloomberg London covered the UK’s future relationship with Europe. The Prime Minister called for fundamental reform of the European Union and called for a in–out referendum to be held on the UK's membership:

Simply asking the British people to carry on accepting a European settlement over which they have had little choice is a path to ensuring that when the question is finally put - and at some stage it will have to be - it is much more likely that the British people will reject the EU. That is why I am in favour of a referendum. I believe in confronting this issue - shaping it, leading the debate. Not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away.

Subsequent events

The Conservative Party included the referendum in their manifesto for the 2015 general election and it was then held in 2016.

See also

• United Kingdom renegotiation of European Union membership, 2015–16
• 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum