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[h=4]Britain's historic EU referendum to be held on June 23[/h]Cameron sought to amend the country's relationship with the EU ahead of announcing a date for the referendum.
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The U.K. prime minister has managed to extract some concessions from the EU.
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British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses a press conference at end of an European Union (EU) summit in Brussels on February 19, 2016.(Photo: Emmanuel Dunand, AFP/Getty Images)
LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Saturday that Britain<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hold its historic referendum on whether to remain in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the European Union on June 23.
"We are approaching one of the biggest decisions this country will face in our lifetimes," Cameron said in a short statement<span style="color: Red;">*</span>outside 10 Downing Street, his official residence and the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>headquarters of the British government.
"This<span style="color: Red;">*</span>choice goes to the heart of what kind of country we want to be, and the future we want for our children," he said.
"Let me be clear," he added.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Leaving Europe would compromise our economic and national security."
Cameron reached an EU<span style="color: Red;">*</span>deal in Brussels late Friday after marathon negotiations at a summit of the group's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaders. He sought to amend the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>country's relationship with the EU<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ahead of setting<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a date for the vote, in part because he faces<span style="color: Red;">*</span>skepticism within his own Conservative<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Party about the merits of retaining Britain’s ties with the 28-nation political bloc.
"Three years ago I committed to the British people that I would renegotiate our position in the EU<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and hold an in-out referendum.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Now I am delivering that commitment.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>You will decide," he said.
Cameron spoke after emerging from a Cabinet meeting on the issue.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It was the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>first British Cabinet meeting held on a Saturday since the Falklands War in 1982. He said that his Cabinet backed his goal of keeping Britain in the EU.
Still, one of the prime minister's closest allies who is held in high regard by Conservatives<span style="color: Red;">*</span><span style="color: Red;">*</span>— Justice Minister Michael Gove<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— said he will campaign for a so-called Brexit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>or<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a British exit from the EU. Cameron said he was "disappointed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but not surprised" by the move. A number of other Cabinet ministers and senior party members<span style="color: Red;">*</span>may follow suit,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>including Boris Johnson, London's influential mayor.
An average of the six most recent<span style="color: Red;">*</span>polls of voting intentions showed that 51% of Britons would choose to remain in the EU, while 49% would opt to leave, according to What UK Thinks, an independent social research organization.
Stuart Shields, 48, who was visiting London on Saturday from Cambridgeshire, in eastern England, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Britain should leave the bloc.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I don't think it's value for money," he said.
Ben Murphy, 30, from Kent, in southern England, wants Britain to stay in the EU.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"It's got to be better for trade," he said.
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EU, UK reach deal to head off possible British exit from European Union
Dividing lines were also visible across political parties.
Jeremy Corbyn,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the leader of Britain's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>opposition left-leaning Labour Party, said in a statement that Cameron's "priorities in (the EU)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>negotiations have been to appease his opponents in the Conservative Party. He has done nothing to promote secure jobs, protect our steel industry<span style="color: Red;">*</span>or stop the spread of low pay.
"A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>vote to remain in Europe is in the best interests of our people,” Corbyn<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said.
George Osborne, Britain's Conservative<span style="color: Red;">*</span>finance minister, told the BBC:<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We’re stronger, safer and better off in the EU.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The alternative is a huge leap in the dark, with the risks that that entails for our country, for its economy and for our security.”
Among the measures that Cameron secured concessions on from the EU were assurances that Britain would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>not be forced to join the euro currency, restrictions on some welfare payments to the citizens of other EU nations who come to work in Britain, and a guarantee that it can forgo "ever-closer union" —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a reference to ceding more government powers to the seat of EU power in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Brussels.
Wendy Taylor, 62, from Durham, in northern England, said she was divided on whether Britain should stay or leave.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"We've never really been properly in Europe because we've never changed the currency. We're on the edge really," she said.
Hjelmgaard reported from Berlin
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