PM Prepares For Key EU Speech In Germany

David Cameron is preparing to make the case for Britain staying in a reformed European Union in his last major speech on the issue before a crunch summit next week.

The Prime Minister is expected to use an address in Hamburg to set out the "wider agenda" behind his renegotiation of Britain's EU membership.

"It will be about setting out the case, talking through the proposals, talking about where we are, reminding people of some of the reasons why we are taking this course of action," a No 10 spokesman said.

The visit to Germany is also an opportunity for further talks with Europe's most powerful leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been broadly supportive of draft proposals for a deal.

Ahead of his speech, the Mr Cameron was warned by more than 130 Conservative councillors that he risks splitting his party unless he admits his negotiations have failed and campaigns for Britain to leave the EU.

They wrote: "You made clear that if you did not get the deal you wanted in Europe you would not rule out campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union yourself, and we hope you will now unite your party and Britain in doing so."

Negotiations on the final wording of the deal - which includes an "emergency brake" on benefit payments to EU migrants and a UK opt-out from "ever closer union" - look set to carry on until a two-day Brussels summit of EU leaders concludes on 19 February.

Mr Cameron is anxious to get a final deal in place in time for him to put the outcome to an in/out referendum on Britain's continued membership in June.

He got unlikely backing from Labour's former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, who threw his weight behind Mr Cameron's EU welfare reform agenda.

But Mr Balls warned there was "a lot more to do" to persuade the country to vote to stay in Europe.

"We have got to show our population that Britain's influence can be used to make real changes in Europe, and that's what David Cameron is trying to do through his renegotiation," the ex-MP told BBC Radio 4's Today.

"The point is though that we can only make those changes from the inside. We can't solve the problems of companies not paying their tax or Europe's failure to tackle the refugee crisis from the outside.

"We need to win this referendum but there is still a lot more to do to win that case."