Britons warned to ignore PM's Europe nonsense

The Prime Minister tried on Wednesday to prevent traditional Tory voters turning to right-wing rival Ukip by hinting at demands for "reform" including an opt-out from the EU working time directive.

But Communist Party of Britain chairman Bill Greenshields advised people not to be taken in by Mr Cameron's rhetoric.

Mr Greenshields warned that the EU's role as a front for "monopoly finance capital" meant it was as much a threat to hard-pressed small traders as to the general population through its privatisation and austerity policies.

Far from opposing the bloc the PM had expressed his total commitment to the EU "as long as the City of London remains unconstrained by other European capitalist interests and US finance capital can use the City as a bridge into Europe," he said at the party's political committee.

Mr Greenshields warned that Labour would be shooting itself in the foot if it retained its uncritical pro-EU approach and denied the people of Britain a referendum on the issue.

And he urged the labour movement to drop any illusions about the EU or the "pipe dream" of turning it into a "social Europe."

Pointing out that millions of people in the EU are fighting austerity and privatisation co-ordinated by the European Commission and the European Central Bank, Mr Greenshields explained: "Most of the policies adopted by the TUC and many trade unions - including those in the People's Charter - would be blocked by the treaties and laws of the European Union, backed by the European Court of Justice."

He urged full support for the Coalition of Resistance and its proposal for a People's Assembly, supported by Unite and other trade unions, to lift and co-ordinate the fightback against austerity policies in Britain.