David Cameron's EU reform speech is just a few hours old - but already the haggling is underway

  • Brexit

We got the detail of David Cameron's demands today - but it would be hard to argue we got anything new.

In his "Dear Donald" letter to the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, David Cameron confirmed the four demands (or 'objectives' as he called them) which will form the basis of his renegotiation with the EU.

If you've paid attention to this debate in recent months, you'll know Mr Cameron wants to:

  • reduce the attractiveness of the UK's benefits system to curb EU migration

  • exempt the UK from the EU principle of 'ever closer union'

  • ensure the nine non-Euro countries are protected

  • make the EU more competitive

He repeated those four demands this morning.

But many in his party think he's asking for the bare minimum - rather than embarking on a substantial renegotiation of Britain's relationship with the 28-member Union.

"Is that it?", the Tory MP Bernard Jenkin just asked in the Commons chamber.

But one of Mr Cameron's demands gets more attention than the other three: the four-year ban from UK benefits for EU migrants.

It's all about reducing what's called the 'pull factors' which encourage EU workers to come to the UK.

Mr Cameron said it was an issue of 'scale and speed' for Britain: too many migrants in too short a timeframe.

But it will cause him the biggest headaches in Europe because it disciminates against those working in the UK from other member states.

And so countries in central and eastern Europe say it could breach the principle of free movement - which is one of the founding pillars of the EU.

Already the European Commission has called this welfare proposal "highly problematic".

But it's also the demand on which David Cameron appears to be ready to negotiate.

Already.

In his speech, Mr Cameron said: "I am open to different ways of dealing with this issue".

In his letter to Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister wrote: "I look forward to discussing these proposals further".

And in the Commons just now, the Europe Minister David Liddington just urged other EU states to "put forward proposals" that would achieve the same result.

"It is the outcome' of controlled migration we seek," said the Minister, not therefore the 4 year ban specifically.

The speech is just a few hours old - but already the haggling is underway.