European Communities (Finance) Bill

No, I do not want that, but I want the accounts to be properly vetted so that there is more transparency. Eastern European countries are struggling to spend the existing vast sums of money that they have been given. During my various trips to Warsaw, people have confided in me that there are difficulties with some of the time scales that the EU has given the Poles to spend the money on infrastructure, as they are unrealistic. It is expecting the Poles to spend billions of pounds on building vast motorway networks across the country when that will simply not be feasible within the time frames given, due to environmental considerations and all the other complications that, as the Minister will be aware, major infrastructure projects inevitably bring about. The Minister did not mention at all in his speech where the money was going, and I was slightly disappointed about that. If he is so confident that this British taxpayers' money will be of great benefit, it is a disappointment that he did not have one or two examples to share with the House as to what it could be spent on. I would have liked to hear an assurance from the Minister that some of the money would be spent on helping these countries reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Owing to its communist past, Poland has hugely inefficient steel plants, such as Nowa Huta in Krakow, that belt out hundreds of thousands of tonnes of emissions. It would be at least nice for some of the money to be spent on helping countries to reduce their CO2 emissions, so I look forward to hearing in the winding-up speech how some of the money will be spent. The Minister spoke a lot about eastern Europe, but he did not mention British overseas territories. Having spoken to representatives of the Cayman islands, the Turks and Caicos islands and many other British overseas territories, I know that they get a raw deal from the EU. They are currently experiencing terrible problems in getting their hands on money to which they are entitled under European Union terms. Will the Minister assure me that the rebate that he has given away does not affect British overseas territories, and will he give me a commitment that he will help the Governments of the Cayman islands and the Turks and Caicos islands get what they are entitled to? They are fighting to get their fair share and they are coming across a great deal of red tape and bureaucracy. The hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) mentioned her concerns about parts of rural England not receiving their fair share of money. I represent a rural part of the UK—Shropshire—that has massive underinvestment in basic public services. If I may, I shall explain why I am so vehemently opposed to this outflow of money to eastern Europe. The reason is the problems that we face in the United Kingdom on public services. I visited Coleham primary school in Shrewsbury in my constituency. Its headmistress has worked out that she receives £711 less per pupil than the average per child funding—I am not talking about the best schools—and that equates to a £300,000 shortfall for one primary school in my constituency. I asked how that affects her. She said, ““Clearly we cannot buy certain books or put the heating on when we would like, and we have various problems.”” How can we be experiencing such problems in the fourth wealthiest country in the world, yet at the same time be giving so much to eastern Europe? The Royal Shrewsbury hospital is millions of pounds in debt. I have told the relevant Minister that we have a huge funding shortfall. Our local education authority is ranked 145th out of 149 LEAs for funding. Later this evening, I shall present a 16,000-signature petition that aims to prevent the closure of Shrewsbury ambulance control centre. Can one imagine such a thing? At the same time, the socialists are giving my taxpayers' money to the eastern Europeans—it is unbelievable.