EU Council

Chris Heaton-Harris Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. I do not see financial services on their own, because they obviously have a role in supporting the rest of the economy. The key in terms of Europe for the rest of the economy is the single market, and that is what we are determined to safeguard.

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

The UK wields its influence in the EU in many different ways, and our net contribution to the EU in 2010-11 was £9.2 billion. We are the second largest net contributor, so perhaps we could become a little more like the unions with Labour and demand a little more influence for our money.

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes a good point, which is that we are a major player in the European Union, not least because we are the second largest net contributor, which gives us a huge amount of influence. We have safeguarded the European Union and its treaties—not allowing them to be changed if we were not able to get the safeguards that we needed.