Oral Answers to Questions

David Nuttall Excerpts

Tuesday 12th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Hanson (Delyn) (Lab)]

2. What discussions he has had in the Council of the EU on the Prime Minister's letter dated 10 November 2015 to the President of the European Council as part of negotiations on the UK's membership of the EU.

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

13. What progress the Government has made on the renegotiation of the UK's terms of membership of the EU.

[Damian Green (Ashford) (Con)]

14. What progress has been made on negotiations to reform the EU and the UK's relationship with it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Hammond]

The Prime Minister has been clear throughout that once we have an agreed deal, he will make a recommendation based on his assessment of the best interests of Britain. That is what drives him; that is what will determine the recommendation he makes.

[Mr Nuttall]

Many people are suspicious about the seriousness of this renegotiation when three of the so-called demands were accepted without any negotiation at all. Why, for example, did the Government bother to ask for a cut in red tape and for more competitiveness when the European Council has made it clear—in European Council after European Council in recent years—that that is exactly what it intended to do anyway?

[Mr Hammond]

It is true that we have seen, particularly under the present Commission, some very welcome moves to address some of the measures that make the European Union increasingly uncompetitive in the global market. But we are not seeking to get a political fix by one Commission: we are looking for an institutional restructuring that cements these arrangements for the future to ensure that the direction of travel remains one that the British people can be comfortable with and that will benefit the British economy and this country for the future. That is what we are going to do.