European Communities (Finance) Bill

The right hon. Member for Rotherham talked a great deal, but he missed out one key possibility that was available to Mr. Blair two years ago: to use the strongest card that we had, which was won by Lady Thatcher in 1984—the British rebate. As my hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) said in his opening speech, we always made it clear that we would support sensible measures to negotiate the reduction and CAP reform balanced against a reform of the British rebate. Instead, we got a hopelessly one-sided deal. So, what is the upside to the deal that was secured and the arrangements that we are considering? Mr. Blair certainly failed to secure the prize of his key objective of CAP reform. Not only did he give up billions of pounds of British taxpayers' money but, more shamefully, he gave up a key bargaining point. He was wholly culpable for the fact that we conceded that crucial part of the British rebate while getting nothing in return. We should not readily forgive or forget that. It should not be a surprise to right hon. and hon. Members of any party that the deal is so unpopular, but that could easily have been missed. The Chief Secretary is an affable, likeable man. It would have been easy to draw the conclusion from the tone and demeanour of his lengthy opening speech—I accept he was generous in giving way—that the Government were presenting a great triumph. One might expect Her Majesty's Opposition to be most dismayed by the sacrifice of such an important part of the British budget rebate and cross about the Government's failure in Brussels in 2005, but I was delighted that the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) confirmed that her party would vote against the Bill. The Liberal Democrats are the most Europhile and federalist party in the House of Commons—