Remuneration of EU Staff

Debate between Cathy Jamieson and Henry Smith

Tuesday 21st February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Cathy Jamieson]

I am happy to accept that correction to the record. However, I want the House to be aware of our concern that what was presented by the UK was done very much at the last minute. I hope that in future we will spend time building alliances, rather than be sidelined.

I want to focus again on the issue of budgetary restraint. The Minister has indicated that there is an intention to be tough on Europe on budgetary restraint, but we have not seen or heard the detail today of how that will happen.

The Conservative party is riven with splits. The Deputy Prime Minister has said that the Prime Minister’s behaviour in Europe risks making the UK

“isolated and marginalised within the European Union”.

The Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, has said that Britain will no longer be

“in the heart of Europe”

following the veto and that our “capacity to influence” events will be greatly diminished. The concern of people in the wider world is that the Prime Minister has indicated that he is willing to put appeasing his own party first and the national interest second. Let us be clear about one thing: our place in Europe and our seat at the table are too important for that. To cut ourselves off from a market of 500 million customers would be devastating to British companies. In an era of billion-person countries and trillion-pound economies, we need to find ways to amplify our voice, not dampen it.

[Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)]

Is the hon. Lady really arguing that we should go headlong into whatever political alliances the European Union wants us to enter, just for the sake of free trade? Is it not the case that we are able to have free trade without surrendering sovereignty?

[Cathy Jamieson]

If the hon. Gentleman had been listening carefully, he would have realised that I am saying nothing of the sort. I am saying that in an era when we have to compete in a global economy, we must ensure that our voice is heard. We therefore have to take our seat at whatever table there is to put the interests of the UK forward. Where we have shared goals, such as in climate change negotiations, tackling cross-border crime and dealing with human trafficking, working together surely makes global agreements more likely. We need a mature and positive approach to Europe from the Government.