European Council

Jeremy Lefroy Excerpts

Monday 5th March 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s question. It was an interesting Council in that regard, because a number of countries, Britain included, were not happy with the original communiqué. So even before the opening session—when we hear from the President of the Parliament—was over, a number of countries had intervened to say that the letter we had written and the measures we wanted were not properly reflected in the communiqué. That had quite an impact on the Council and the Commission recognising that they needed to take these into account.

[Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s clear statement on deepening the single market in services, a cause he continuously champions. When does he think we will see UK companies bidding for continental rail franchises, as Dutch and German railways bid for franchises here?

[The Prime Minister]

Of course that should happen now under the procurement directives that have already been signed. We need to do two things, the first of which is to make sure that those are properly enforced by the European Commission. Domestically, we ought to learn the lessons of great businesses that actually work with their customers and their suppliers on a long-term basis so that they know what is coming up next.