Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

I hope that the hon. Gentleman does not mind my saying that I agree with the basic premise of some of his comments. There is an old stereotype of China and India that claims that their role in the global market is to compete at the bottom end. That is the old economic reality and is no longer relevant. Research spending in China is set to catch up with the EU by 2010 and is growing by 20 per cent. a year. When it comes to economic growth, it has taken China 10 years to achieve what Japan took 35 years to achieve. While we agree on some of the analysis underpinning the debate, we often come to different conclusions. The conclusion of the Government is that the evidence makes the case for being more effective through the European Union, as a group of 27 sovereign nations working together where they can in the largest rules-based market in human history.