Draft EU Budget 2011

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

No, I think I need to wrap up.

We are absolutely committed to pressing for the EU budget to be smaller. We will not have rises in the EU budget undermining our attempts and our desire to tackle our fiscal deficit. We will challenge the 2011 budget, which does just that.

I welcome the support of this House in sending a common view to Europe. I hope that we will be able to do that later tonight and I look forward to seeing whether we get support from the main Opposition party on this matter, too.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

On a point of order, Mr Speaker. My hon. Friend the Minister said that the amendment in the name of my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton (Mr Carswell) would commit the Government to an illegal act. Am I right in saying that any amendment accepted by the House for debate is in order and that it would be quite improper for any amendment to commit Her Majesty’s Government to anything illegal? Were not the Minister’s remarks a matter of debate rather than a statement of fact?

[Mr Speaker]

I am very grateful to the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone) for his point of order. Certainly, from my reading of amendment (b), I am not aware of any exhortation to illegality. The hon. Gentleman will understand, and the House will appreciate, that it is not for me to become enmeshed in an argument between hon. Members as to the merits or demerits of a particular amendment. What I can say to the hon. Gentleman, whose concern for propriety is unsurpassed in any part of the House, is quite simply that the amendment is not improper. If it were improper, I would not have selected it; it is perfectly proper. On the subject of propriety, therefore, he and others need have no cause whatever for concern. I hope that is helpful to the House.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Cash]

No, I have heard enough from the right hon. Gentleman. All he does is repeat his old mantras—[Interruption.] I do not accept that: I simply need to get to the next point that I wish to make about the procedure that is to be followed.

It is clear in the light of the current state of affairs that the Government should adopt my amendment and reject the increase. The European Parliament, in the current austerity conditions, is wilfully affecting the economies of the 27 member states, and of the United Kingdom in particular. My European Scrutiny Committee has today agreed to have a full inquiry reaffirming the sovereignty of the United Kingdom Parliament in relation to the assertions of the European Court of Justice on such matters. The Government have agreed to the Committee’s demand for pre-legislative scrutiny, and I am happy to announce that the Minister for Europe will give evidence in public on these critical matters—and that will have an impact on the issues that we are discussing in this debate—as will other experts on the compatibility of Britain’s membership of the European Union with the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty in the light of the European Union’s own assertions that the parliamentary sovereignty of this Parliament has been overtaken.

The Government have announced that they will introduce a clause to address the question of parliamentary sovereignty, but our Committee will examine the implications of this in the light of the declaration of primacy of European law by the European Court of Justice and as contained in the Lisbon treaty. All these matters require the closest analysis for the sake of our democracy and the electors of the United Kingdom on questions relating to taxation, spending, the European budget, our contributions and all the functions of the European Union. We have an absolute requirement to get this right and we will have a full examination of the issue of parliamentary sovereignty, including the subject matter of this debate.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend believe that it would have been helpful if the Minister for Europe had been in his place for this debate?

[Mr Cash]

It is always helpful when the Minister for Europe is present, and I endorse my hon. Friend’s view. However, the Economic Secretary has set out the Government’s view and their determination to get the negotiations right. They will have to succeed in that aim, because there is a huge amount at stake.

The Commission submitted its draft budget to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, but the Council rejected the Commission’s proposals by qualified majority vote. The proposals then passed to the European Parliament. In the next few days, it is expected that the European Parliament will adopt the amendments to increase the budget and forward the amended draft to the Council of Ministers and the Commission. The European Parliament and the Council will then convene a conciliation committee to seek to resolve their differences, if any. It is essential that the Government negotiate a blocking minority of 91 within the Council of Ministers to stop the increase at that point. The decisions will be taken by a majority of 14 out of 27 MEPs on that conciliation committee, together with a majority of the 27 member states on the Council of Ministers. That is why it is vital that the Government have the strongest possible mandate to negotiate a blocking minority to determine whether there is agreement in the conciliation committee on the joint text—as I am sure is the intention. If both the MEPs and the Council of Ministers, through their respective procedures, reject the joint text, or if one rejects it and the other fails to take a decision—this point is crucial, and that is why this is such a delicate matter—the European Commission is bound to propose and submit a new budget that will deal with the problem properly.

That is why I take the position that I do in my amendment. I am in no way detracting from the sentiments expressed by my hon. Friend the Member for Clacton. I absolutely endorse those objectives; indeed, I have advocated them repeatedly—relentlessly—over the past 20 years. However, there comes a moment in the tide of man, as they say, when it is essential to get the responsible procedures working in an orderly manner. I do not in any way want to find the Government’s position compromised by a vote that could take place this evening, the effect of which would be to put the Government position into reverse.

We are at a crucial moment. I very much respect my hon. Friend’s objectives, but in this context it is important to get things right. On this occasion, I would strongly urge my hon. Friends to accept my amendment and allow the Government to proceed on that basis, rather than on the basis of something based on a hypothesis.