Britain's Cameron warned against EU exit on eve of speech

(LONDON) - British Prime Minister David Cameron faced last-minute warnings from both his government and the opposition Thursday on the eve of a major speech on relations with the European Union.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband said separately that Cameron's speech in Amsterdam on Friday risked pushing Britain towards the "exit door" of the 27-nation bloc.

In the speech, Cameron is expected to set out plans to renegotiate Britain's EU membership and then to allow voters to decide on the new terms in a referendum after elections in 2015.

He faces pressure from the "eurosceptic" right wing of his Conservative party to take a stand on Europe, but that has put him at odds with his junior partners in the coalition government, the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats.

"I don't think you serve the British national interest and protect the three million jobs dependent on Europe if you somehow suggest you're heading to the exit door," Liberal Democrat leader Clegg told LBC radio.

Clegg added that "years and years and years of guesswork and uncertainty is not good" for the British economy.

Business minister Vince Cable, also of the Liberal Democrats, was to warn Cameron in a speech later Thursday against taking a "dangerous gamble" with Britain's economy.

"It is totally unclear whether the other members of the EU will be willing to negotiate new terms for the UK and on what basis. Uncertainty is the enemy of investment," Cable was to say, according to advance extracts.

Miliband meanwhile said Cameron was leading Britain to the edge of an "economic cliff".

"I fear the prime minister's strategy is leading us towards the exit, which will cause real damage to our economy," Miliband said in an interview with BBC radio.

"If we put up a sign around Britain saying we might be out of the European Union within five years, I don't think that is going to be good for our country," Miliband added.

Cameron has also faced warnings from European partners and even close ally the United States against isolating Britain from the EU.