European Affairs

No. I defer to nobody on the Conservative Benches on the protection we give and the efforts we make to ensure the long-term sustainability of our defence industry. Indeed, many of my constituents in south Wales work in a variety of firms engaged in different elements of the defence industry, and we seek to protect those important jobs. I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's characterisation that we do business only with our American colleagues. Of course, they are very important allies to us, but my experience—having seen British troops fighting alongside Dutch personnel, Italians, Spaniards, Danish personnel, the French, the Germans and those from many other countries—is that our alliances in Europe are significant and important to us. I turn now to climate change. I said earlier that no economy can pretend that it is a hermetically sealed unit. The same is of course true of our environment and our climate, which is why we believe the ongoing discussions in Copenhagen are so important. Europe has a leading role to play in limiting the damaging effects of dangerous climate change and in leading global action as the world moves to a low-emission, low-carbon economy. The October European Council made important progress on climate finance, agreeing that developing countries are likely to require financial support amounting to about €100 billion per year by 2020 if they are successfully to mitigate, and adapt to, the effects of climate change. It also agreed that between €22 billion and €50 billion of this overall package should come from public finance. The agreement on climate finance demonstrates the EU's continued leadership as a global actor, but we must keep working together to reach a coherent EU position on the key remaining issues. That includes the demonstration of EU readiness to move to a 30 per cent. emissions reduction target if other developed countries offer comparable commitments at Copenhagen. The December European Council, which meets towards the halfway point of the Copenhagen summit, offers the opportunity for European leaders to react positively should commitments from other developed countries warrant such a reaction. It remains vital that the EU continue to show leadership in achieving an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen. There is political momentum towards such a deal, but it needs continued nurturing and encouragement. Any political agreement must be supported with a clear timetable for delivering a full legal treaty as soon as possible. Slow progress is simply not enough if we are to avoid seeing the shadow of climate change darken all other issues on our agenda. I had thought that I would have unanimous cross-party support on this issue, but I note that a former shadow Home Secretary has joined the ranks of the Tory deniers, saying that he thinks the science is only 80 per cent. proven. I must say that if I thought there was an 80 per cent. chance of being knocked down when I crossed the road, I would not cross the road. Similarly, the Tory grouping in the European Parliament has broken free: only last week, 18 members of the group, including two Tory MEPs and, most significantly, the hand-picked leader of the group, Michal Kaminski, voted against Tory policy to agree an 80 per cent. cut in emissions by 2050. I see some hang-dog faces on the other side of the House. The Council will also be invited to adopt a new five-year strategy document, entitled the "Stockholm programme", setting out our high-level priorities in the field of justice and home affairs. Collaboration on justice and home affairs has already delivered major benefits for the citizens of this country. Since the European arrest warrant came into force in 2004, it has allowed the UK to extradite more than 1,000 fugitives to other member states and brought more than 350 wanted criminals to the UK to face justice, including Hussain Osman, one of those involved in the attempted attacks in London on 21 July 2005. I simply cannot understand why the Conservative party refuses to support the European arrest warrant.