Uncertainty over Britain's role in EU will harm jobs - deputy PM

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said on Tuesday plans to renegotiate Britain's ties with the European Union risked creating "prolonged uncertainty" that would harm business.

Prime Minister David Cameron aims to take advantage of possible EU treaty changes sparked by further integration of eurozone countries to reshape Britain's own ties with the 27-member bloc.

Clegg said there was no guarantee deeper integration would require treaty changes, or if so, when that would happen, creating uncertainty for Britain's business environment.

"We should be very careful at a time when the British economy is still haltingly recovering from the worst economic shock in a generation to create a very high degree and prolonged period of uncertainty, because in my view uncertainty is the enemy of growth and jobs," Clegg told BBC radio.

(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas, editing by Kate Holton)