TORY LEADER MICHAEL HOWARD OFFERING A MIDDLE WAY BETWEEN WITHDRAWAL FROM THE EU

Tory leader Michael Howard has sought to portray his party as offering a middle way between withdrawal from the EU and moves to create a super state.

In a speech he contrasted his party's position with that of the UK Independence Party "at one extreme" and Labour and Lib Dems at the other.

On Saturday the Tory whip was withdrawn from four peers for supporting UKIP ahead of the Euro elections on 10 June.

A recent poll has suggested that support for UKIP has hit the Tories.

Third way?

Mr Howard said: "At one extreme there are the candidates from the UK Independence Party - they represent a party that wants to pull out of the European Union altogether.

"They have frequently failed to vote in the European Parliament on issues that are vital to Britain.

"At the other extreme are Labour and the Liberal Democrats - who want to transfer even more from Britain to Brussels, setting Europe on the path to a single European State.

"The Conservative Party rejects both these extremes."

Open letter

But for Labour, Europe Minister Denis MacShane accused Mr Howard of being the "god-father of anti-European politics in Britain".

"Many of UKIP's arguments and positions have been taken directly from Michael Howard's anti-EU speeches over the past decade," he said.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy meanwhile said Mr Howard was clearly "rattled" over the European polls, with the Conservatives locked in "a council of despair, confusion and division".

BBC