---

European Communities (Finance) Bill

I can only quote from the table in the written answer given by the hon. Member for Bury, South (Mr. Lewis). It clearly stated that in 2011, our net contribution would be in the range of £6 billion to £6.8 billion. I am sure that the Government were not wrong about that fact. Another interesting element of the written answer to which I have referred has to do with the so-called ““dodgy money”” that we get back from the EU. We give it £14 billion, and then some bureaucrat in Europe sends some of it back, with instructions about where it should be spent. I remember driving around a small village in Wales and reading a blue plaque that stated that what amounted to a motorway had been built by the EU. Of course, there were no cars on it at all, but the Bill means that even the dodgy allocation of returned funds that I have described will be smaller. This year, we will get back £5.6 billion, but it is predicted that we will get only £4.2 billion in each year from 2011 to 2013. It cannot be in the national interest for us to pay substantially more money to the EU and yet get less money in return. This is an enormously important debate. Thank goodness the Opposition, with the support of the Liberal Democrats, have given the Government a get-out-of-jail card.