European Council Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

European Council

Marcus Jones Excerpts
Monday 26th November 2012

(11 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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My hon. Friend is entirely right. That is why we spent so much time putting together the so-called like-minded group, particularly over single market issues where we have not only the traditional allies of Denmark, Holland and Germany, but the Baltic states, the Nordic states and now the Italians and the Spanish, along with others including the Hungarians and the Czechs. They all support single-market and growth-oriented measures, which is very encouraging.

Marcus Jones Portrait Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
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Can my right hon. Friend reassure us that he will never agree to any new EU taxes, particularly to an EU-wide financial transaction tax?

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton Portrait The Prime Minister
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I can certainly give my hon. Friend the assurance that we do not support new EU taxes. One of the ways in which particularly the left in Europe has endlessly tried to argue for higher budgets for more spending is by altering the so-called “own resources” and coming up with new taxes. We oppose a financial transactions tax. Some countries may well go ahead and introduce it in any case. If they do, as far as I am concerned, that is their own decision and we will not take part in it.