European Communities (Finance) Bill

I sincerely hope that they were speaking on the telephone, but it may be that they did not have the degree of harmony that one would hope for in taking such a big decision. Perhaps some of this friction between the former and the present Prime Minister that has been talked about in recent days was in evidence. I have never believed those stories myself, but perhaps there is some substance to them after all. The Government and my right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary have constantly emphasised the importance of giving assistance to the newer member states, which are distinctly poorer than ourselves. That is a noble and respectable objective. However, the debate was really about the common agricultural policy and its genesis was the suggestion by us that the CAP should be reformed and the budget for it reduced. President Chirac was already smarting from his defeat in the referendum on the constitution; he was extremely angry and looking for someone to lash out at. He saw Britain attacking his CAP and there was also the issue of our budget rebate, so it was President Chirac who forced the debate about our rebate on to the agenda. At that point, we should have responded robustly and said ““no deal””—at least until the cost of the CAP was substantially reduced. In my view, of course, we should entirely abolish it. I have said many times here and in Committee that the CAP should simply be abolished and agricultural support returned to member states. Member states are best able to judge what their own agricultural industries require and what subsidies, if any, are required. Under that system, they would also be democratically accountable. The subsidies would have to be accounted for in a direct way at elections, which is absolutely right. Indeed, I would go further. Much has been made of structural cohesion funding, but here again it is an inefficient way of subsidising or trying to help the poorer regions. It would be much better for member states to decide what subsidies were appropriate for their regions and to pay for them out of their own budgets rather than have to go through the circuitous budgetary processes of the EU. Money is lost in inefficiencies—no doubt in fraud and corruption as well—and there is frictional wastage in distributing aid in that way. I am sure that I am not alone in being slightly annoyed when I spot notices around my constituency and elsewhere that are funded by the EU—indicated by the yellow stars on the blue background. That is effectively our money being used, yet it is claimed that it is European money. If we were a poorer nation and we were receiving a net contribution, that would be fine, but we are actually net contributors and only some—certainly not all—of that money is redirected back to Britain. As a socialist, I am strongly in favour of redistribution from those who can afford it to those who are in need. If we did that in a sensible, fair and non-corrupt way, it would represent a sensible way forward—but we do not do that through the structures of the EU. I have said before and I will keep on saying that a system of simple fiscal transfers from the richer to the poorer nations of Europe would be a much more efficient and much fairer way of doing things. The relevant member states could then decide how to allocate those extra funds to their own peoples, and be democratically accountable to them in doing so. We should repatriate agricultural policy and leave regional and structural funding to member states, not have it allocated through the EU. Various estimates have been made of the cost of the EU to Britain. This Bill will cost us an extra £7 billion by 2013—