Treasury committee requests cost/benefit analysis of UK's EU membership

The UK Commons Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie has asked Prime Minister David Cameron to publish analysis of the overall costs and benefits of the country’s membership of the European Union.

With opinion polls pointing to a tight result for the in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU - scheduled to be held on 23 June - Tyrie said, "The debate on the Scottish referendum [in 2014] was informed by a detailed, written analysis of what, in the Government’s view, was at stake. The Government should produce a similar analysis for the EU referendum, and the sooner the better."

Tyrie also said the committee will want to cross examine the PM on the referendum and the deal which, on behalf of the UK, which he has just negotiated.

Earlier in the day, Cameron confirmed the referendum date in an address to Parliament noting: "The deal we have negotiated with the EU's 27 other states would give Britain a "special status" within the EU and ensures it never becomes part of a European super-state."