European Council

Neil Carmichael Excerpts

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I have set out in my statement and also at the European Council a number of specific steps that could be taken on pay bills, on pensions and on automatic promotion. Frankly, however, perhaps the best way of getting the Commission to engage in the reality is to give it a cut that it has to achieve and then challenge it to do so. That is what we have done with some Government Departments. We have said to them, “Okay, you know your Department and your departmental spending better than anyone. Here is the sort of reduction you need to achieve.” There is not an organisation or business in the world that has not had to budget for a 10% or 20% reduction over the past few years, and we should ask the Commission to do that.

[Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)]

This statement certainly demonstrates that the building of an effective alliance on the European Council really can deliver some results. Through good leadership, that is clearly benefiting this country. Does the Prime Minister agree that the next big thing to do is to make sure that we have a truly competitive Europe and that the alliance that he has created should be used as a powerful mechanism to demonstrate what we need and how to get it?