European Council

Wayne David Excerpts

Monday 11th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for what she says. Two things are happening. First, there is a growing sense right across Europe, not just in the UK, that we must have proper control of EU spending, and that if we are tightening our belt at home, we should not be spending more through the EU. That had strong support.

Secondly, countries are seeing that as the euro requires a further tightening of parts of the European Union, proper arrangements need to be put in place for non-euro countries. The banking union agreement was a really good example of that, and I hope that it is the precursor to more such arrangements, which would be helpful for non-euro countries like Britain.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Quite a few Members on both sides of the House have been generous to the Prime Minister this afternoon. Will he reciprocate and congratulate his Back Benchers and the Opposition on giving him such a strong negotiating mandate?

[The Prime Minister]

I thank everyone who had this incredible foresight. I would like to argue today that it was all part of a careful plan. Perhaps on a day like this I will just leave it at that.