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European Communities (Finance) Bill

I understand my hon. Friend's point. He is correct that that is how the rebate is calculated, but overall, the European Union budget will grow by about 7 per cent. over the course of the financial perspective. That too is a product of the negotiations led by this country, and—to repeat what I said to the hon. Member for North Essex (Mr. Jenkin) a moment ago—it is significantly lower than the European Commission's original proposals. The fact that we have secured a lower budget is good news for Britain. Opposition Members make points—I was going to call it hypocrisy—about prudence and keeping spending in check. The right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) was right to make those points, and I accept them—a person in my position needs to listen carefully to what he says—but I hope that he will acknowledge that the growth of the European budget throughout the period in which his Government were in power was in the double digits.