EU Budget Surcharge

Lord Tomlinson Excerpts

Monday 10th November 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Deighton]

I thank my noble friend for putting, with force and eloquence, precisely the points I have been trying to make in response to the last three questions.

[Lord Tomlinson (Lab)]

My Lords, can the noble Lord explain exactly what the Treasury had been up to—it had been involved in all the calculations—and how it was that, after three months of negotiations, the Chancellor did not understand what it had been doing? The Chancellor also did not advise the Prime Minister before he went to Brussels, which is why the Prime Minister was caught on the hop. If we have not got just what we were going to get back in any case, can the Minister assure us that we are still going to get the rebate in 2015 and 2016, and that we have not merely already received it back as an advance?

[Lord Deighton]

I can assure the noble Lord that the rebate that we are discussing with respect to halving this payment is applied specifically to this payment. It is independent of other arrangements for the rebate.