Informal European Council

Dennis Skinner Excerpts

Tuesday 31st January 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the right hon. Gentleman is entirely right, and the refreshing thing about this Council is how much time was spent on the nitty-gritty of the single market—on digital, on services, on education and on energy markets. Having Mario Monti, the new Greek Prime Minister and others there with a real focus on the single market, including the new Spanish Prime Minister, gives us a much better prospect for making progress on this agenda than we have had for many years.

[Mr Dennis Skinner (Bolsover) (Lab)]

Is not the truth of the matter that throughout 2011 the Prime Minister marched his troops to the top of the anti-European hill, and now, like John Major before him, and with the help of the Deputy Prime Minister, he has marched them down again? I think there is a word for it: it is called appeasement. If this meeting had been held in Munich, the Prime Minister would have been coming back waving a piece of paper.

[The Prime Minister]

I always wonder whether practice is going to make perfect with the hon. Gentleman. At least he has been consistent: he has always voted against all EU treaties, and I am giving him the rare pleasure of not having an EU treaty to vote against.