Today’s meeting of European social democrat ministers and shadow ministers in Dublin will be told that the British Labour Party was not standing aside from the EU, Britain’s shadow chancellor Ed Balls said yesterday.
Participants in the one-day gathering will also include former Northern Ireland secretary Peter (now Lord) Mandelson; the president of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda; Swedish shadow finance minister Magdalena Andersson; and Danish minister for European affairs Nicolai Wammen.
The opening speech will be given by Tánaiste and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore, who held a meeting with Mr Balls and the UK shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker at Government Buildings in Dublin.
Mr Balls told reporters that both he and Mr Coaker were very keen to “show that in Britain the Labour Party wants to be a strong pro-European party fighting for jobs and growth”.
