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Future EU Finances and Own Resources

By and large, I agree with the sentiments that the hon. Gentleman is expressing about our duty to support the countries of eastern Europe that have entered the EU. But does he agree that the provision of European regional funding is also of great importance to some of the poorer parts of the UK and does he share the disappointment of people in the highlands and islands because the amount of funding that our area is receiving, as a transition area, is falling dramatically? Would not it have been better for the Government to have negotiated as strongly in favour of the highlands and islands as of the eastern European countries that he described?