But government sources admitted this so-called “emergency brake” on payments would be just a “stop-gap” measure.
It would fall short of the permanent reform to migration rules that Mr Cameron originally wanted.
Even this plan could still be vetoed by other EU members who oppose limits to the rights of their citizens to travel, work and claim benefits in the UK.
On Saturday night Eurosceptics dismissed Mr Cameron’s latest plan as “trivial”, while even senior sources said it amounted to confirmation that the Prime Minister’s pre-election pledge on controlling migration was “dead”.
The talks between Mr Cameron and President Tusk take place at a time of heightened tensions across Europe over migration.
In Britain, five hours of rioting broke out around Dover on Saturday as far-Right groups and ant-fascist campaigners clashed over the refugee crisis.
Fighting broke out in a motorway service station on the M20 outside the town when coaches ferrying pro-refugee protesters were attacked.
In Dover, Left-wing protesters gathered at a rally addressed by Diane Abbott, Labour’s shadow international development secretary.
Police officers in riot gear flooded the streets and tried to keep the groups apart. Nine people were arrested and a number injured in both incidents, Kent Police said.
In Stockholm a mob of up to 100 masked men went on the rampage, beating up immigrants and handing out leaflets threatening further attacks against unaccompanied young refugees.
The attack is believed to have been the first violent reaction by far-Right groups in Sweden to the recent murder of a social worker by a Somali refugee.
Meanwhile, in Turkey at least five children were among the 39 people known to have drowned when a boat filled mostly with Syrian migrants hit rocks. The tragedy happened only a few hundred yards from shore as the boat was thought to be heading for the Greek island of Lesbos.
The deteriorating migration crisis provides a fraught context to Mr Cameron’s negotiations over the future of Britain’s membership of the EU.
The Prime Minister has promised to secure better terms for the country and to put a new deal to voters by the end of 2017. He plans to campaign to keep the UK in a reformed EU and wants to hold a referendum in June this year.
However, there are fears that the tide of public opinion could swing against EU membership if the migration crisis spirals out of control during the spring and summer, making an earlier referendum even more critical to his hopes of keeping Britain in the union.
The warmer months are typically the peak period for migrants to make the perilous journey from north Africa and there are predictions that between one and two million more migrants may pour into southern Europe this year.
Mr Cameron’s plans to reach an early deal at a summit in February have so far stalled over his demand to be able to control migration from Europe.
Time is now running out and if leaders cannot agree a deal in Brussels on Feb 19, a referendum before the summer will be almost impossible.
Mr Cameron originally wanted to ban all EU migrants from receiving child benefit and tax credits until they had been working and paying tax in Britain for at least four years. This was widely rejected by furious eastern European leaders.
Last week, a far weaker plan was proposed in Brussels. This would give Britain the power to apply for an “emergency brake” on benefit payments to migrants – but only if Downing Street can prove that the British welfare system is under intolerable strain as a result of migration, and if all 27 other EU member states agree.
Mr Cameron will tell Mr Tusk – who holds a key role in brokering a deal with other EU leaders – that this proposal will not work.
Over dinner tonight, however, he will accept that an “emergency brake” could provide a solution to the roadblock as a temporary “stop-gap” measure, but only if it is much tougher than so far proposed.
Government sources said Mr Cameron will demand that any emergency brake on benefit payments must apply “immediately”, as soon as the referendum is held.
The brake would have to apply to “current levels of EU migration to Britain”, which the Government believes are already too high.
It would also need to last as a measure for “long enough to resolve the underlying problem” and act as a deterrent to new migrants coming to the UK, sources said.
A senior government source said: “The Prime Minister will tell Tusk that the ‘brake’ proposal sketched out so far does not go far enough and will need to be significantly strengthened. He will also argue that it should only be a stop- gap to a more permanent mechanism.”
Mr Cameron is also set to demand tougher rules to stop migrants from outside the EU marrying European Union citizens in “sham” arrangements and gaining the right to come to work in Britain. He will call for a formal review of all EU laws to strip out unwanted red tape.
Mr Tusk is expected to table a draft of the deal within days, in preparation for the summit.
A government source said: “The Prime Minister intends to leave Tusk in no doubt that he will not do a deal at any price, making clear he is not in a hurry and that it’s far more important to secure significant reforms.”
Meanwhile, it emerged that John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has called for Britain to adopt an “open borders” policy.
He told a rally in 2013 that such a policy would be the mark of a truly “civilised country”, saying the ability to travel freely around the world should be a “human right”.
Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/579309/s/4d3da9d4/sc/13/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cnewstopics0Ceureferendum0C121320A390CMigration0Ecrisis0Edeepens0Bhtml/story01.htm
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