Saturday 19th January

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Government is prepared to stand up to eurosceptic pressure says Culture Secretary, while UKIP leader Nigel Farage promises to quit politics if he loses public vote on Treaty.

The government is prepared to face down Euroscepticism in the press to give a strong pro-European case, Culture Secretary James Purnell told the Fabian 'Change the World' conference, rejecting the claim that New Labour was in thrall to Rupert Murdoch.

'Our approach to News International has been "fairness not favours"' said the Culture Secretary, reapplying New Labour's account of its relationship with the trade unions to that which it should have with the powerful media group.

Beyond facing down calls for a referendum on the Reform Treaty, the government's strong support for a licence-fee funded BBC and the refusal of BskyB's bid for Manchester United demonstrated an even-handed approach which refuted claims of favouritism,' said Purnell.

The Culture Secretary was responding to a challenge from Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, who argued that Britain's 'dire' relationship with the European Union was excessively influenced by a nexus of Eurosceptic media barons who hold 'an unbelievably tight grip over the entire media.'

She called on the government to strengthen competition laws and broaden media ownership. New owners 'might still be fruitcakes, but at least we would have a wider range of fruitcakes owning media.'

UKIP's leader Nigel Farage MEP clashed with the European Commission's Margot Wallstroem over the new Treaty. Mr Farage made strident calls for a referendum, and offered the incentive of putting his own political career on the line declaring that he would 'pack up and go back to work in business' if the government held a referendum and won.

Winning the public debate for Europe is 'not mission impossible; its mission irresistible,' said Wallstroem, arguing that it was important to focus on the substance of the EU and the case that the Treaty would strengthen the EU's capacity to act on key issues and so help to reconnect citizens to the EU.

Purnell agreed:'It's really not that scary. If you believe in pooling your sovereignty to make things work better, then it's a good treaty and means together we can achieve our objectives better,' he said.

Farage though revealed that he is seeking the necessary votes in the European Parliament 'to put a motion of censure on Margot and her colleagues in the Commission for denying us a referendum.'

But Purnell also argued that pro-Europeans found it too easy to fall back on the 20th century justifications for the EU of peace and prosperity, when it is peculiarly 21st century political problems that make the EU important now. Defence, foreign affairs, immigration and the environment are issues that can only be dealt with through collective European action, and so 'if the EU didn't exist, it would have to be invented,' he said.

Quentin Davies MP agreed and told his first Fabian Conference that the best way to sell the EU to a sceptical public is to be 100% positive about it. He also explained his motivations for defecting to Labour from the Tories last year:

'I couldn't stand being in a party that had become so shamelessly cynical and obsessed with quick tricks,' he told the room. 'Ever since New Labour became established I couldn't think what I disagreed with them about, so the only logical thing to do was to walk to the other side of the house.'

Purnell insisted that the Prime Minister's 'hard-headed internationalism' was providing a strong lead on Europe and strongly defended the EU reform treaty as being in Britain's interests.

But Polly Toynbee wanted a much stronger commitment from Gordon Brown, though she praised Foreign Secretary David Miliband as someone who 'speaks from the heart on Europe and is making the case,' and called on other pro-European government ministers like the multilingual Jim Murphy to be bolder in doing the same.