LONDON — Having persuaded 27 fellow European leaders to do a deal to save Britain’s EU membership, Prime Minister David Cameron faced an insurrection at home on Saturday as his government emerged divided over whether to back Britain’s exit from the 28-member economic and political union.
In a rare Saturday morning Cabinet meeting — the first since the Falklands War in 1982 — Cameron attempted to rally his senior ministers to the cause of keeping Britain a part of the European Union when the country votes in June.
The meeting came just hours after the prime minister inked a deal in Brussels with his EU counterparts that he said would dramatically improve British relations with the bloc. The agreement featured concessions in various areas, including currency protections and immigration, and it came together only after two days of round-the-clock talks.
But with a referendum campaign now underway in Britain, there were major defections from the government’s senior ranks, reflecting bitter divisions in the prime minister’s Conservative Party over the country’s membership in the EU. Polls show that voters as a whole are almost evenly split.
Speaking in front of 10 Downing Street on a gray Saturday, Cameron announced that Britons will decide the issue June 23, giving both sides four months to try to convince a majority of voters. Cameron had first promised the referendum in 2013, bowing to a strong current of European skepticism that has run through British politics for decades and is unequaled anywhere else on the continent.
A British departure would be a first for the bloc, and it could imperil the union’s future by empowering anti-EU forces across the continent.
The stakes are also high for Britain.
“We are approaching one of the biggest decisions this country will face in our lifetimes,” Cameron said Saturday.
The prime minister announced that a majority of his Cabinet was recommending that the British public vote to stay in, and he argued that a departure — popularly known as Brexit — would damage Britain by depriving the country of vital partners.
“Leaving Europe would threaten our economic and national security,” he said.
But only minutes after the prime minister spoke, a half-dozen cabinet ministers announced they would defy Cameron and side with “out.”
Cameron had bucked British political convention by allowing his ministers to choose either side of the EU debate, rather than demanding loyalty.
Saturday’s defections were not a surprise; all six have been sharply critical of the EU in the past. But their stance reflects just how politically divisive the referendum is likely to be, cutting across party lines.
