Tories' EU deal overruled by party bosses

The Tories' European arrangements appear to have hit a new snag after the party's high command overruled a deal by Conservative local councillors to remain in the EU parliament's main centre-right grouping. Conservative leader David Cameron withdrew all Tory MEPs from the European People's party (EPP) in June and expended much political capital in forging a new grouping, called the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), in which they sat alongside MEPs from former communist-bloc nations who were accused of having antisemitic pasts. Tory councillors have spent six months negotiating a unique relationship to be able to remain in the EPP, but the Local Government Chronicle (LGC) reported today that the party's high command is this week overruling their deal. The British delegation at the EU's committee of the regions (CoR) – the European body in charge of regional policy – is headed by a Conservative, Gordon Keymer. But the order from Tory high command has led some observers to call for an election to find a replacement who was still a member of one of the CoR's four main groups. The Tory councillors had struck a deal to remain with the EPP group, but the LGC reported that Keymer will soon begin talks on forming a CoR branch of the new ECR group. Keymer, the leader of Tandridge district council in Surrey, had previously said it was impractical to leave the EPP, saying: "If a member does not belong to a political group it is much more difficult to work effectively." But today he confirmed to the LGC that the situation had changed: "We've reviewed the situation and decided not to carry on with the EPP." Conservative Sir Simon Day, a Devon councillor and member of the British CoR delegation, told the LGC: "Of course, I would prefer to remain in the EPP but we have to accept that we do as we are told by the leadership." The LGC reported that councillors from other parties will raise the issue at the next meeting of the committee in February. Liberal Democrat Richard Kemp said: "My view is that if there was a substantial call in the CoR delegation to rerun in light of the changed circumstances, we'd have to call another election. Over the weekend I've heard councillors from the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups and a Conservative committee member raising concern." Labour committee member Dave Wilcox said: "If you are going to be effective on the committee of the regions, you have to be part of a substantial group that gives you access to the positions of influence. "The local government Conservatives tried to stay within that broad church of reasonable rightwing politicians within Europe."