Cameron dangles EU exit option before Britons

Forty years after the British voted in a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Economic Union, Prime Minister David Cameron today promised to give Britons the choice of another referendum, to opt out or stay in the European Union, provided he wins the election in 2015.

In a speech delivered in central London, Cameron said Britain did not want to retreat from the world, but public disillusionment with the EU was at "an all-time high".

He also shrugged off warnings that this could imperil Britain's economic prospects and alienate its biggest trading partner. He said the plan for a vote could come sometime between 2015 and end-2017

"It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time for us to settle this question about Britain and Europe," Cameron said.

His Conservative party plans to win again in the 2015 election promising to renegotiate Britain's EU membership.

"When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice to stay in the European Union on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum."