European Council

David Nuttall Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

There has always been off-EU budget spending and it is important that we control that as well. The Germans have been particularly focused on this agenda and have made some very good proposals for savings there, too.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

I congratulate the Prime Minister on his statement. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the fact that the United Kingdom gets to have a veto on EU spending limits only once every seven years, and that 4,365 eurocrats are paid more than either my right hon. Friend or the German Chancellor, might just be a couple of the reasons why millions of British people have come to the conclusion that this country would be better off outside the EU?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is entirely right that it is only once every seven years that we have the unanimity lock that enables us to achieve a deal such as this one. I do not share his view that Britain would be better off outside the European Union, but I accept what he says: we need to convince people that Europe and the bureaucracy live on a tight budget. We have taken some steps forward, but I am not satisfied with where we have got to with regard to the costs of the Commission or the other central costs. Six per cent. is still too high and, just as Government Departments here have made and are planning huge savings between 2010 and 2015, the same should apply in Brussels, too.