Top EU official warns against British repatriation of powers

The president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy has warned that David Cameron's strategy of repatriating powers from the EU would damage the union and the eurozone.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: "If every member state were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those that they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel."

He said that Britain has gained "tremendously" from being part of the single market and said he did not want to see "a friend walk off into the desert".