European Union (Amendment) Bill

It is true that Norway is a member of the European economic area and therefore has to follow the unfortunate path that the noble Lord has just set out. We do not advocate that the United Kingdom would stay in the European economic area, either; we would prefer a position akin to Switzerland’s. As a matter of fact, because we are the EU’s largest client—the EU exports some 18 per cent of its GDP to the United Kingdom and only 16 per cent to the United States of America, which is second—and because we would continue to be very friendly with the EU, we could do as good or better a deal than the Swiss. So the argument about the fax machine in Norway really does not add up. I was about to say that our business, if set free from Brussels over-regulation, which has been put at—