Conservatives and the British public should get behind  Prime Minister David Cameron in  his decision to veto a new

European treaty following a round of discussions with European leaders in Brussels.

Speaking at a press conference after the talks, David Cameron said:

"I said before coming to Brussels that if I couldn't get adequate safeguards for Britain in a new European treaty, then I wouldn't agree to

it. What is on offer isn't in Britain's interests, so I didn't agree to it.

"Let me explain why this matters. Of course, we want the Eurozone countries to come together and to solve their problems. But we

should only allow that to happen inside the European Union treaties if there are proper protections for the single market and for other key

British interests.

"Without those safeguards, it is better not to have a treaty within a treaty, but to have those countries make their arrangements separately.  That is what is now going to happen.  Britain's interests in the European Union - keeping markets open, free trade, selling our goods and services with rules over which we have a major say - all those things are protected."

Ken Hind Senior Vice Chairman RVCA commented ''This is not about staying or leaving Europe but the development of an agenda driven by the French to introduce, greater intergration , control of national spending and tax policies , more protectionism into European trade, possibly  reducing the size of the EU to a smaller exclusive club, based on the Euro in which French influence will be so much greater. This model increases the chances of the European super state developing  , undermines the single market and the EU being a group of states co-operating in a free trade area. This decision  is all about our national interests and our  vision for a free trade Europe. 

 ''The French leader, President Sarkozy  successfully rallied Germany to oppose a request from the Prime Minister for a legal “protocol” to protect the City of London and to preserve the EU single market to be inserted in any new treaty.

''The draft text of the new treaty  did not create any new opt-outs but sought to protect Britain’s financial sector from a tide of EU legislation that has been tabled by Michel Barnier, the French internal commissioneer.If passed, this protocol would have given Britain a veto if the EU tried to give European financial supervisors powers to overrule national authorities such as the Financial Services Authority in Britain. This follows constant attempts by Mr Barnier to chip away at Britain’s regulatory sovereignty over the City through piecemeal legislation, recently on derivatives and hedge funds.The attitude of Mr Sarkozy was shown by his comment after the meeting .“We consider that a part of the world’s woes stem from the deregulation of the financial sector .''

''60% of EU  financial services transactions are carried out in London which amounts to  10% of UK  gross domestic product . The taxes paid by our financial  institutions helps to  fund the services education, health housing and benefits  provided to the public and creates thousands of jobs in the UK . The desire of some Europeans to impose additional  taxes and controls over our financial services sector is designed to weaken London as the premier world financial centre to their own advantage .Regulation of the British banks and financial service sector should be a matter for the British Parliament rather that European bureacrats .''