David Cameron and Nick Clegg clashed over the need to rebalance powers between Westminster and Brussels, with the prime minister claiming work was already under way in Whitehall, and his deputy insisting: „We are nowhere near that point.“

The difference reflects a Lib Dem anxiety that Cameron will be pushed into making premature demands for a repatriation of powers in the face of a development of a two-speed Europe, with an inner euro-core at the centre of policy making.