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European Council

I am grateful to the Prime Minister for his statement. As European summits go, the conclusions were workmanlike, largely welcome, but fairly unremarkable. I wonder whether that is in part because of the issues that were omitted. Notwithstanding the Prime Minister's words about Tibet today, will he explain why there was no discussion among EU Heads of State last week on Tibet? Does he not think that it is precisely the actions of the Chinese authorities in Tibet that should be the subject of discussion between European leaders? I know that the Prime Minister is extraordinarily reluctant to do anything, it seems, to annoy the authorities in Beijing, but will he none the less confirm today that he will follow the lead of President George Bush and of Chancellor Angela Merkel and meet the Dalai Lama on his forthcoming visit to London to express solidarity with the Tibetan people? [Interruption.] As the Prime Minister knows, I have written to him about that on two occasions and still not had a clear answer—[Interruption.] ... I congratulate the Prime Minister on inserting, at the last minute, a reference in the conclusions to his laudable aim of reducing VAT rates on environmentally friendly goods, but why did he apparently go about that in such a bizarre fashion? Why did he spring it on his colleagues—if reports are to be believed—at the last minute through a letter with President Sarkozy? Is that really the best way to show leadership and do business in the EU? My worry is that the manner in which the proposal was spun in the press had as much to do with obscuring the Government's woeful record on the environment, compared with that of other EU countries. We are now 25th—25th—out of the 27 EU member states on the use of renewables, and more than 25 per cent. of our carbon emissions come from our housing stock, compared with 5 per cent. in Sweden, which is a much colder country. We have a recycling rate well behind that of France, Germany, Spain and other countries. The go-ahead is being given to Kingsnorth power station—the first in a new generation of coal-fired power stations—without any effort being made to use carbon capture technology, and the go-ahead is being given to a third runway at Heathrow. The list goes on. Does the Prime Minister not accept that he can make all the noise he wants about his VAT proposal, but our green credentials in the EU will never be strong unless real action is taken across a much broader range of issues? For instance, will he commit today to giving support to a new draft directive on the geological storage of carbon, which is being drafted in the European Parliament and which would oblige all member states to accelerate the use of carbon capture technology at all the coal-burning power stations? I strongly agree with the Prime Minister that there is a pressing need to move towards a fully integrated and competitive energy market in the single market. In particular, the EU needs the powers to take action against monopoly energy providers in markets such as France and Germany. Does he agree that the new Lisbon treaty would give the EU precisely those powers further to liberalise the EU energy market, and that that is just another example of the benefits that the treaty would bring the British economy, which the Conservative party is so keen to deny the British people? I warmly welcome the Prime Minister's remarks about co-ordinated action at European level to ensure stability and greater transparency in the financial markets. The reverberations around the global markets today, caused by the news that the US investment bank Bear Stearns is to be taken over at just 2 per cent. of its share value compared with 12 months ago, show how timely the EU's Council statements are. It is critical, at a time when liquidity remains so tight for the world's banks, that steps are now taken to ensure that this does not create an environment where credit is being withdrawn for millions of ordinary people. That is why we must also now pioneer reforms to the system of lending to ensure that we do not find ourselves in a similar position in years to come. Does the Prime Minister agree that while it is critical that the capital requirements directive be reviewed if we are to prevent a further boom-and-bust cycle in the credit markets, we must be prepared to use levers to control supply as well as demand for credit?