UK’s Cameron calls for unity
LONDON - Reuters
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British Prime Minister David Cameron called on lawmakers in his fractious coalition to put aside differences over issues such as Europe and work together in the national interest, warning them against “division and navel gazing”.Writing in the Sunday Times after a week of high-profile disagreements between members of his Conservative party and their Liberal Democrat partners over parliamentary reform cast doubt over the coalition’s future, Cameron said the alliance was secure.
Four days ago a revolt by 91 Conservatives forced him to drop a crucial vote on reforming Parliament’s unelected upper chamber, the House of Lords, a key Lib Dem demand which raised suggestions the fragile coalition could collapse. “Some people reacted to last week’s vote on the House of Lords by saying the coalition could - or should - end soon,” Cameron wrote. “I take completely the opposite view.”
The two parties formed the coalition in 2010, promising to govern together until 2015, after parliamentary elections produced no outright winner.
Strains on the partnership have increased, some Conservatives believing the Lib Dems are slowing their reform agenda and wanting Cameron to prevent greater British integration with the European Union, while their partners remain strongly pro-European.
