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European Communities (Finance) Bill

I welcome the Chief Secretary's willingness to take so many interventions because that allowed us to hear more about the Government's position. I was concerned about his saying at the beginning of the debate that, if we did not accept the proposals, it would lead to ““a complete breakdown of our relationship with Europe””. If, every time Ministers go off on our behalf to discuss matters in Europe and come back with a deal that is presented to Parliament for a decision, we cannot reject it because it would result in a complete breakdown of our relationship, we have effectively no parliamentary scrutiny and Ministers are self-employed. We should not accept such a line for a moment. The fact that the previous Prime Minister agreed the settlement does not necessarily bind us for all time. Had I known that he had aspirations to be president of Europe on his way to being president of the world, I would have believed that agreeing the settlement represented an inappropriate conflict of interest and that he should not have been allowed to go on his own. I agree with the hon. Member for Twickenham (Dr. Cable) when he agreed with me—not an unreasonable position—that it is possible to be in favour of enlargement but unwilling to accept other elements of the budget, such as the common agricultural policy with its obscene overspending and all the waste and extravagance. Let us take the monthly commute between Brussels and Strasbourg, with all the boxes in the lorries and so on. We do not have to accept that as the price of enlargement. We could have enlargement without the continuation of those elements. The Government's inability to negotiate them away is a cause for condemnation. The Government defended their position by saying that, if they had left matters to the Commission, they would have been worse. That is probably true. However, I do not know whether the Chief Secretary or his advisers have ever been negotiators, but I suspect that the Commission was adopting the old stance of trying for 10 per cent. and being prepared to settle for 5 per cent. The Commission's asking for more money and the Government's beating it down a bit is not an enormous cause for self-congratulation. The Commission made a bid for more money—that is what commissions do. Of course, the Commission wants more money—it is a self-aggrandising organisation. The fact that it is spendthrift and extravagant does not mean that we must accept everything it proposes. The Chief Secretary tells us that the Government made the best possible deal. Oh no they didn't. Of course, a better deal was possible. We tend to get movement from the European Union only in times of crisis and difficulty. Rejecting the budget and showing that we are not prepared to accept what the Government have accepted is for the Government's own good. Everything that I propose to the Government is for their own good, even if they do not always recognise it at the time. Ministerial positions would be enormously strengthened if the budget were rejected, because Ministers could negotiate much more strongly next time. I wonder what sort of advice the Chief Secretary has been getting from the Foreign Office and elsewhere. Foreign Office officials are so insecure that they are seen outside the building only in groups of eight because they are unwilling to travel anywhere on their own. In those circumstances, we must tell the Chief Secretary, ““You've done reasonably well, but not well enough.”” We ought to send"““him homeward""Tae think again.””"