European Communities (Finance) Bill

The right hon. Gentleman is very persistent but I am not giving way. It would be remiss of me not to mention the excellent speech of my right hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane). He displayed his great knowledge of the subject and reminded us that it was Baroness Thatcher who, in this place, set out the case for enlargement. He urged Opposition Members to become a little more Thatcherite. That sounds like a good idea, because by voting against the Bill Members of both Opposition parties will, in effect, be voting to take money way from east European countries; yet the Leader of the Opposition, the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron), said in the House on 23 February 2003:"““Enlargement of the EU is wholly welcome.””—[Official Report, 13 February 2003; Vol. 399, c. 1023.]" The Opposition support enlargement on one hand, yet they do not will the means for it to happen with the other. Is not that strange? We can only presume why. I presume that the Conservatives need to make money from the accession of eastern European countries to plug the £6 billion hole in their public finances—