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European Council

I will deal with each point, but is it not remarkable when 3.5 million jobs are dependent on our membership of the European Union and when European co-operation on the environment was crucial to what happened at Bali that the right hon. Gentleman can say so little about the advantages of co-operation in Europe, and that he should spend his time attacking the European Union rather than seeing the benefits in it? The right hon. Gentleman says that the environment is nothing to do with the European reform treaty, but it is the first time we have set down as a strategic objective that the environment is an important issue and it is there in the treaty. All the other parties in Europe believe it is important that the environment be at the centre of Europe's work and if I may say so, if we are going to lead the world on the environment, we will need to co-operate with our other European partners. The right hon. Gentleman also raised the question of how we as a country are cutting emissions. We are one of the few countries meeting our Kyoto targets and we will continue to do so. One of the reasons why we are meeting them is that we implemented early on in our Government the climate change levy, which the Conservatives continue to oppose. As far as the economy is concerned, I find it very strange for the right hon. Gentleman to be raising issues that compare us with the rest of Europe in terms of economic progress. We have lower inflation than the rest of Europe and we have a history of stability and growth. The right hon. Gentleman will find, during the course of this year, that the American deficit will be higher than the British one because people are taking the right action to deal with the global financial turbulence. I am sorry that the right hon. Gentleman has so little to say in support of the action that the European Union and, indeed, all international authorities are taking on the economic issues confronting them. If the Conservatives want to be a serious party, perhaps they could actually address the serious issues of economic progress. As far as the issues about Tibet are concerned, the right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right that, while it was not discussed at the European Council, all of us are concerned about what is happening there. We have made our views known to the Chinese authority: we believe that there should be restraint and an end to violence; and we believe that there should be a dialogue between the different authorities, which should happen soon. It is very important to recognise that at this time the whole world is looking to China to see what the reaction will be. The right hon. Gentleman also raised the issue of trade and may I say that we, too, have been pushing the rest of the world because we believe it important to use this window of opportunity to get a trade deal? That is why we are working as we are with the European Trade Commissioner and why it is essential to move other countries forward to see if we can get a deal. One of the people who was at the European Council during the course of the weekend was the Czech Prime Minister. Until recently, he was the Conservative party's only supporter in Europe. What he is saying now, however, is that failure to support the reform treaty will leave the Czechoslovakian people isolated in Europe. That is exactly what would happen to this country if we ever listened to Conservative advice.