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European Affairs

I hope that the hon. Gentleman is very familiar with our wish to see greater local and national control over fisheries policy, which will only ever be achieved through a change of Government here at Westminster, and we look forward to working on that in future. I hope that Ministers will be able to tell us whether they think that the sacrificing of such a large part of our rebate represented a good deal, and why the priority of the French Government in the negotiations was to get their way, but the priority of the British Government was to climb down whenever possible. Perhaps they can tell us why British taxpayers now face a double increase in expenditure, with a lower rebate and an expensive common agricultural policy. They might tell us, too, what estimate they have now made of the effect of the pound's dramatic fall against the euro and the further effect on Britain's budget contribution to the European Union.