EU Financial Management

I do not know whether my hon. Friend was in the House at the time, but does he recall that some of us voted against the Maastricht treaty 47 times? We thought that the sort of problems that he has identified with the Maastricht criteria would lead to a position in which the Government simply could not answer such questions. The off-balance-sheet problems, which he has rightly identified, merge into the privatisation arrangements, which Government Back Benchers strongly resent. That is indicative of the unworkable nature of the Maastricht criteria, which is having a dramatic impact on our domestic agenda, including health, education and a range of other matters. That is why the Maastricht criteria have not been seen in the Red Book since the present Chancellor dared to include them for the first and last time.