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European Communities (Finance) Bill

I do not intend to delay the Committee for long, but I think that it is worth setting out the arguments that we went over at some length on Second Reading and the key points that constitute the own resources decision that the Bill will incorporate into UK law. That decision was agreed more than two years ago, and it is fair to say that there has been considerable opportunity for Members on both sides of the House to form a view on it. It is now make your mind up time. This is not a Bill that we can go through line by line and take the bits that we like and remove the bits that Members may be less fond of. We have either to accept the package that was negotiated in December 2005 or signal a wish to go back and renegotiate it. It is important to say at the outset that there may be seductive—