Nia Griffith
Main Page: Nia Griffith (Labour - Llanelli)Department Debates - View all Nia Griffith's debates with the Cabinet Office
(12 years, 11 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Prime Minister
I can certainly do that. My hon. Friend makes the important point that this is an industry that is based around the country and not just in London. However, the protections of the single market go far beyond the financial services industry.
Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)
The Prime Minister has likened his experience of EU negotiations to playing chess against 26 different people. Will he therefore tell us what attempts he has made to build alliances with countries that have similar views to the UK, which could have played with him rather than against him?
The Prime Minister
Year after year, Ministers have had to stand at this Dispatch Box and apologise as the EU budget has gone up by 3%, 4%, 5% or more, because it is decided by qualified majority voting. I put together a qualified majority bloc so that we could get a real-terms freeze in the budget. There was help from Germany, France, Sweden and Holland. That is exactly the sort of constructive role that we play.