European Union (Finance) Bill

Will my hon. Friend confirm that GNI is assessed in the same way across the whole Community?

Yes, it is. My right hon. Friend raises an important point and I suspect that he has in mind the ...

The various agreements have been described as a considerable achievement. Under pillar two and th...

I would certainly make it very clear that there was a considerable achievement in the 2013 negoti...

I note the irony that the House of Commons Library published its briefing paper on the Bill on th...

Absolutely. I am keen to make that commitment and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for making that...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman, because I believe that he participated in that debate.

Following on from the point made by the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), I have said m...

First, I acknowledge the consistency with which the hon. Gentleman has approached these issues. I...

Will the Minister give way?

I will touch on the smaller changes to the own resources decision in a moment, but first it gives...

I congratulate the Government on their success in keeping the EU budget down. Will the Minister c...

I will certainly make that assurance and indeed, I will set out in a little detail what we are do...

My constituents are still reeling from Labour’s great recession. Will my hon. Friend assure me th...

I can certainly give that assurance. Thanks to the success that the Prime Minister achieved in th...

Was not another of the Prime Minister’s substantial achievements in those negotiations to shift t...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. He anticipates comments that I will make later relating to how...

rose—

Before I do so, I will give way to my hon. Friend.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for giving way a second time; he is being very generous. My const...

I give the assurance that the Government will always defend our rebate. Perhaps it might be helpf...

The Minister has outlined how the European Union is currently funded through contributions from m...

Yes, we would resist such a move. It would be a fundamental change to the nature of our relations...

My hon. Friend talks about the financial transaction tax, but the City is an incredibly important...

I certainly give that assurance. There was a strong push for a financial transaction tax, which w...

Will the Minister welcome the confirmation from the Office for Budget Responsibility that in cash...

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. It is noticeable that our contributions are lower than they w...

I admire the level of detail we are going into in this debate and I know that we all find it fasc...

My hon. Friend makes a good point. I confess that I have set out rather detailed points. I know h...

I note again a matter that is of great interest to the electors of Tonbridge, Edenbridge and Mall...

My hon. Friend touches on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Antoinette S...

rose—

I will give way to the right hon. Gentleman. I see he has made more contributions in this Parliam...

I am pleased to say that I have drawn level with the Chancellor on this morning’s assessment.

The right hon. Gentleman refers to my dead bat, but I thought I had played a flourishing cover dr...

My hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) made a very important point about protec...

I will certainly make that point. It was estimated by the European Commission to be of the value ...

I would like to take the Minister back to the intervention of the right hon. Member for Gordon (A...

We have consistently argued the case for money being spent more wisely and for greater European U...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way—he is giving us a lot of his time. He mentions fisca...

My hon. Friend makes an important point. I would perhaps go further: it is not just member states...

I thank the Minister for giving way once again. The hon. Member for Boston and Skegness (Matt War...

The hon. Gentleman draws me into deeper waters and wider issues. Perhaps I should resist, Mr Stre...

Will the Minister give way?

I will certainly give way, before I deal with the new clauses.

I am happy to wait if the Minister wishes to deal with the new clauses. I will come back at that ...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. New clauses 1, 2 and 3 and amendment 1, all tabled by the hon. M...

My hon. Friend talks clearly about financing and the details of various percentages going up or d...

The deal that the Prime Minister reached in February 2013 was clearly a success, as our negotiati...

I invite the Minister to remind himself of a similar debate we had in January 2008, in which he a...

I am tempted to point to the remarks made by the hon. Lady’s colleagues in setting out the reason...

On the reference in new clause 3 to

“the relevant European affairs select committee in each...

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for those remarks. Let me come straight to new clause 3, as he ha...

I appreciate the point made by the Chairman of the Select Committee, the hon. Member for Stone, b...

I will return to that point. My remarks, when the hon. Lady intervened, were in respect of new cl...

Let me add one further point before I deal with the matter in substance. The European Scrutiny Co...

We obviously welcome scrutiny in this area. If the European Scrutiny Committee or other Committee...

My hon. Friend the Member for Tonbridge and Malling (Tom Tugendhat) rightly highlighted the welco...

I thank my hon. Friend for his excellent intervention. The answer to his question lies at the hea...

I am grateful for that update, but perhaps the Minister will tell us what the Government are goin...

The most important thing we can do is reduce the EU budget because that then focuses the mind of ...

I think the Minister has answered my question. It was about the common agricultural policy, and h...

Walked into it? I ran with enthusiasm into the answer, and I am glad that I anticipated the hon. ...

I thank the Minister for generously giving way to me a second time. Does he agree that the Europe...

I take my hon. Friend’s point. We are, I hope, moving in the right direction. The new Commission ...

Following what the hon. Member for Torbay (Kevin Foster) has said, would it not be sensible and a...

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s intervention, which he makes in a characteristically const...

I could understand the Government’s reluctance to incorporate the amendments in legislation if th...

In the case of new clause 2, which relates to how we deal with the way in which the Council of Mi...

I am slightly surprised that the Minister is unable to take on board what was actually a very sen...

We care a great deal about eliminating waste and inefficiency in the EU budget. The question is h...

Again, I am surprised by the Minister’s response. Let me remind him of a point that I made on Sec...

I cannot but throw back the record of the Labour Government in that regard.

It is difficult to listen to what Labour Members are saying about new clause 2 without rememberin...

That is a very good point. However, you would not wish me to be detained too long, Mr Streeter, b...

rose—

I give way to the hon. Lady, who may share that view.

Does the Minister believe that enough is being done to ensure the transparency of budget decision...

The hon. Lady has asked a good question. In the context of the review that the Commission is unde...

Are this Minister and other Ministers having more success than their right hon. Friend the Member...

Some progress has been made since then. The Commission has improved its transparency record, part...

Earlier, the hon. Member for Worsley raised the question of how the proposals for budget reductio...

I am grateful for the constructive tone that my hon. Friend brings to the debate; he has a histor...

My constituents were aghast when the previous Labour Government gave away our rebate. Will the Mi...

I am more than happy to give my hon. Friend that assurance. When we debate the scrutiny of expend...

Has my hon. Friend seen the work of the so-called five presidents of the euro area, which sets ou...

Yes; my right hon. Friend makes an important point about the euro area. No doubt he will have hea...

I am sure that my hon. Friend appreciates the difficulties inherent in this matter. It is all ver...

It is important that we meet that objective.

On the subject of the report, I would make the...

The five presidents’ press release and work programme, which will result in a White Paper, are ab...

The point about our position applies across the piece. To be fair to my right hon. Friend, certai...

Before we go any further, may I point out that my constituency is now called Worsley and Eccles S...

Would the hon. Lady let me know which of her hon. Friends are so supportive of her? There appears...

Will my hon. Friend give way?

I will.

I rise to assure my hon. Friend that I am supporting her very strongly today.

I think the hon. Gentleman will see when we come to the vote that we do have support.

Our n...

I am sure the hon. Lady would appreciate the fact that the European Scrutiny Committee functions ...

I very much take that point on board.

New clause 1 requests a review by the European Commis...

I entirely agree with the hon. Lady about the need to get better value for money in a smaller bud...

I think that we could get to that if we had the information in the review that I am calling for, ...

My hon. Friend is making a fair point. It has been suggested that, in real terms, we should be pa...

Indeed, that is a very real fear. If we look down the list of commitments and compare it with the...

On the timing, we are expecting it in 2016.

Will he clarify at which point in 2016? [Interruption.] No, it is just some time in 2016.

Will it be before or after the referendum?

During.

The Minister can hear the comments being made by Members from sedentary positions. Clearly, we ar...

Is the hon. Lady saying that, in the opinion of the Labour party, agricultural support and spendi...

I am not making that point in particular. What we are asking for in this clause is a review of bu...

My hon. Friend made a very strong point about the CAP. If there were no CAP, would it not be sens...

Indeed we could. Let me go on and make a few more points about the proportion that is allocated t...

I am very sympathetic to what the hon. Lady is saying. My one concern would be that if there are ...

The more reviews that we carry out of those priorities, the more that we develop our understandin...

Does the hon. Lady appreciate that much of what she says in terms of generalities is understandab...

I hesitate to say that I think we agree on this point, but I think we do. [Interruption.] All rig...

One issue that concerns me in the area that I represent is the fishing industry. There is to be a...

Indeed. We have focused a great deal on agricultural spending and the CAP, but I do not think any...

Given that many people who represent fishing constituencies would agree with the hon. Lady on tha...

That is strange, but I cannot answer for the Minister. He may want to intervene for himself now o...

The hon. Lady referred to the need for relentless scrutiny. I have a thought in my mind that mayb...

Indeed, we could do that. We would definitely want to press the other new clauses, but there was ...

I have already said much of what I need to say on new clause 3, which is my main concern today, s...

I hope that the hon. Gentleman will accept my assurance that we have no intention of doing that, ...

I am extremely grateful to the hon. Lady. I hope that she will not mind my mentioning the fact th...

It is a great pleasure to follow what must be the briefest speech I have ever heard from the hon....

The right hon. Gentleman said from a sedentary position during the Minister’s speech that that wa...

I was going to move on to that very point, because the Minister’s reply to my intervention inspir...

I have been listening with interest to the right hon. Gentleman’s points about funding for Scotla...

One of the reasons we do so incredibly badly in many European programmes as regards funding is th...

The speech by the right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) is tremendously important and gets ...

As I am sure the hon. Gentleman is well aware, the farms in Northern Ireland are smaller. They ar...

I am very sympathetic to farmers and I ought to declare an interest as I have a little land in So...

That is why the protection built into the agricultural settlement of €196 per hectare is so impor...

Being more traditional, I prefer a minimum per acre, but otherwise I am broadly in agreement with...

Is the hon. Gentleman telling us that consolidation and enlargement always equal efficiency? Does...

There are great advantages to having small, family owned farms, but we need an efficient agricult...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for North East Somerset (Mr Rees-Mogg). Before I...

I do not know whether the hon. Gentleman has ever been to Iceland, Norway, the Faroe Islands or p...

The hon. Gentleman’s point tempts me to talk at greater length about a broader, more socialist ap...

The hon. Gentleman is mistaken. I think that the CAP is a failure of UK Government negotiation, a...

We are in strong agreement on that point. I have said many times in this Chamber that we ought to...

To pursue my point, is it not strange that the Government never mention treaty amendment to the c...

The right hon. Gentleman makes a strong point. That is one of my red lines, and I shall put that ...

As I said earlier, I represent the constituency of Strangford, and the fishing industry is partic...

Order. I hope that the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) will not go too far down that...

I shall move on to my other points in a second, Mr Williams, but I agree with the hon. Member for...

Going back to what the hon. Gentleman said a few moments ago about agriculture, is he aware that ...

The right hon. Gentleman makes a strong point. I have said that if we were outside the EU, we wou...

The glib answer that has often been given to me in the House in years past as to why we should ma...

Indeed. The hon. Gentleman is well ahead of me in his expertise in the matter, but the basic poin...

Is not the great danger that the high priest of the austerity cult, the Chancellor of the Exchequ...

He’d keep it all for himself.

He would keep it all in London. If that were to happen, we would need full fiscal autonomy, or in...

I thank the hon. Gentleman, but it is a counsel of despair to say that because we cannot trust ou...

I call Peter Grant.

Tapadh leibh—thank you, Mr Williams. I apologise for not being able to say that in Welsh despite ...

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point about the likely outcome of Scottish negotiations in Eu...

I do not know whether that is a bid to be the first independent Scottish ambassador to the Europe...

We have had a wide-ranging debate over the past two and a half hours. The hon. Member for Glenrot...

If the Minister is resisting the amendments, and it sounds as though he is, will he tell the Comm...

In the 2013 negotiations, we achieved a shift towards a greater proportion of expenditure being o...

The Minister was unable to give a date. Mid-term reviews are one thing, but we are moving towards...

The MFF will be in 2016, as I said. The reality is that trying to transfer expenditure in the way...

rose—

I was going to turn directly to the common agricultural policy, for which the right hon. Gentlema...

Rather than bemoaning the £2 billion the Labour party lost in respect of the budget rebate, will ...

I will briefly make two points to the right hon. Gentleman. There is no additional money for the ...

The Minister would probably get more information from The Scottish Farmer than he is getting from...

I say again that the right hon. Gentleman really must look at the overall treatment. When we look...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

The Bill gives UK approval to the ...

I am glad that new clauses 1 and 2 were discussed earlier. Given the result of the vote, I urge t...

Thinking back to all the Committee sittings, I recall that the Minister did not feel able to give...