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European Communities (Finance) Bill

The calculation of the amended rebate is a purely mechanical process to give effect to the political decision made in Brussels. If the Chief Secretary looks at his own Bill and the decision that it implements—he looks terribly perplexed—he will see quite clearly that the decision deals with the calculation of own resources, not the overall financial perspective and the total budget. The question that we must decide tonight is whether we are prepared to throw away the hard-won victory of 1984, which recognised the budget system's unfairness to Britain and enshrined the rebate that we are now being asked to sacrifice—the rebate, I remind the Chief Secretary, that the former Prime Minister said could not be negotiated unless and until the CAP was scrapped or radically reformed.