EU: Budgets Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

EU: Budgets

Lord Tomlinson Excerpts
Thursday 2nd December 2010

(13 years, 11 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Sassoon Portrait Lord Sassoon
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I do not want to go over old ground; I have talked about the fraud issue, which we should not get out of perspective. We nevertheless should not be complacent about any of this. There has to be a formal vote each year to discharge the Commission in respect of the audit qualifications. The previous Government never used their vote in this respect when the annual discharge was voted on. As my honourable friend the Economic Secretary has said, the Government plan to be ready to use our vote if the accounts fail to meet the standards that we think they should. We have to strike a balance here and be seen to take tough action if that is appropriate.

Lord Tomlinson Portrait Lord Tomlinson
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My Lords—