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European Communities (Finance) Bill

Let me finish the point. The other consequence is what one might call a diplomatic or political consequence. We have every reason to believe that 26 other member states will ratify the own resources decision into their domestic legislation, so we would face the prospect of being one versus 26 in explaining why we failed to ratify the decision. I do not want to over-dramatise by saying that not ratifying the decision will lead to a complete breakdown, but there would be real consequences to not meeting the ratification deadline.