Draft EU Budget 2011

Debate between Kerry McCarthy and Chris Heaton-Harris

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

The Minister certainly talks very tough talk about the current EU budget negotiations, but I have several questions about how she intends to turn that talk into action. She has given a very clear exposition of the negotiations to date—the Commission originally proposed an increase of getting on for 6% in the payment appropriations; the Council then discussed reducing those appropriations; and the UK failed, at that meeting, to persuade a significant number of member states to accept the EU’s position that there should be substantial cuts. We are now at a halfway house, which means that there will still be an increase in the budget. I understand that the EU Parliament will vote next week, on 20 October, on whether to reinstate all the budget lines. Why does the Minister think that the UK Government failed in that way at the meeting and why, when the Chancellor went to ECOFIN in May to propose a cash freeze, was he unable to win a consensus?

[Chris Heaton-Harris (Daventry) (Con)]

The hon. Lady talks about failure. Will she remind the House how many times in the 13 years of the previous Labour Government Ministers raised one question about the fact that the European Commission’s accounts were not being signed off by the European Court of Auditors?

[Kerry McCarthy]

That is completely irrelevant to the subject that we are debating. The matter has been discussed in the House on many occasions and has been raised by many of the hon. Gentleman’s colleagues. I understand that, as a new Member, he was not in the House then, but it has been discussed many times.