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European Communities (Finance) Bill

The hon. Gentleman will know that if the Bill is passed tonight and the ““own resources”” decision is ratified, there will be an increased cost to the United Kingdom; the United Kingdom's contribution will increase as a result of enlargement. So the answer to the question is no: I do not believe that enlargement would have been possible without an increase in costs to the United Kingdom, and that increase will be borne. However, the Government are asking us to bear a larger increase in costs than would otherwise have been the case, because of the sacrifice of the rebate. I put the question back to the hon. Gentleman: what was the then Prime Minister doing going into the December 2005 negotiations supporting enlargement but with the position that the rebate was non-negotiable, or, as it later transpired, negotiable only in exchange for significant changes to the EU budget?