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European Communities (Finance) Bill

I remind the Chief Secretary that it was a Conservative Government who achieved the UK rebate in the first place, after years of valiant battle, and it is his Government who are proposing to give it away for absolutely nothing. This is not how we expect our Government to behave. We expect them to participate constructively in organisations such as the European Union, but also to fight our corner. Why do we have to listen to Labour Ministers telling us that anybody who wants to fight the UK's corner is anti-European and trying to provoke a crisis in the EU? Does the Chief Secretary think that they have such debates in France, Germany or Italy when those Governments defend their corners and fight vigorously for the interests of their taxpayers?