EU's Timmermans says better economy key to keeping UK in EU

LONDON (Reuters) - Better growth will be key to winning more support for the European Union in Britain, a top EU official said on Thursday.

The EU has launched an initiative to boost funding for companies from markets in a bid to lift growth, a move some UK policymakers hope will also help persuade Britain to stay in the 28-member bloc.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain's ties with the EU ahead of a membership referendum by the end of 2017 if his Conservative Party wins a national election in May.

But Frans Timmermans, First Vice President of the European Commission, said new policies like the capital markets union alone won't be enough to keep Britain in the EU.

"If it creates more growth, I am sure it will help, but indirectly and not in a sense that having these plans will help," Timmermans told Reuters during a visit to London.

"People are much too down to earth in the UK to be convinced just by announcing measures, they want results and I can't blame them frankly," Timmermans added.

Critics have said the capital markets union project could take years to bear fruit and lacks detail, but Timmermans said it was about "substance and not propaganda".

As the EU executive's "better regulation" tzar, he has already withdrawn 70 pieces of planned EU legislation. He said another batch of rules would be withdrawn in an announcement due later this year.

He has written to all commissioners, asking each of them to come up with suggested rules that could be scrapped.

"I want all areas to be targeted...I want them to give me three issues where we could potentially withdraw legislation," Timmermans said.

(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Kylie MacLellan)