Labour rebles unite with tories to force vote on quitting EU

Support was mounting yesterday for Britain to leave the EU as Labour backbenchers joined forces with Tory MPs to urge the Government to pull back from "occupying" Europe.A powerful cross-party anti-Brussels coalition of MPs plans to put unprecedented pressure on David Cameron as the eurozone crisis deepens. Around 50 Labour MPs are set to side with a new group of 120 Conservative eurosceptics who met last week to push the Prime Minister to leave the European Union altogether.The group, spearheaded by Tory MP George Eustice, wants Mr Cameron to set out a "clear plan" for pulling back from Europe. "This issue is now far too important to sweep under the carpet," he said. "The crisis in the eurozone requires all three parties to work together to negotiate a new relationship between Britain and the EU." Conservative backbencher Mark Pritchard, secretary of the Tory 1922 Committee, accused Mr Cameron of failing to honour his promise for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The senior Tory called for a vote on whether Britain should have a "trade only" relationship rather than political union with Europe. He said: "Conservative MPs will not continue to write blank cheques for workers in Lisbon while people in London and Leicester are joining the dole queue. The EU has already become a kind of occupying force, setting unfamiliar rules, demanding levies, curbing freedoms, subverting our culture, and imposing alien taxes." Labour MP John Cryer said: "There are a lot of Labour MPs who didn't want to join the single currency who feel the same way about the EU as a whole." Labour's eurosceptic ranks include former Ministers such as Frank Field, Kate Hoey and Gisela Stuart, as well as prominent backbenchers Ronnie Campbell, Graham Stringer and Austin Mitchell. The hopes of anti-EU MPs have been boosted by a 100,000-name petition calling for a vote on EU membership which was delivered to Downing Street this month.