HC Deb 08 April 1982 vol 21 cc1078-9
10. Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the most recent calculation of the sums that the United Kingdom has contributed to the European Economic Community since the date of European Economic Community membership and of the sums received by the United Kingdom in grants and subsidies; and if he will express the totals as a ratio.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Between 1 January 1973 and 31 December 1981 the United Kingdom had paid £8,799 million to the European Community budget and received £5,314 million. The ratio of payments to receipts is 5:3.

Mr. Taylor

Does the Minister realise that that shows that Britain has made a net contribution of well over £3,000 million, which works out at more than £1 million every single day? In view of this horrific drain on the United Kingdom economy, is there not an overwhelming case for seeking a permanent—not a temporary—solution to the budget structure that will ensure that we get a better deal for our country and our taxpayers?

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

Our objective in the negotiations that are now taking place, as my hon. Friend knows, is to arrive at a long-lasting solution. That is the Government's purpose, and I point out to my hon. Friend that my right hon. Friend has been a great deal more successful in achieving a better balance in the budget of the Community than our predecessors were as a result of their so-called renegotiations.

Mr. Shore

Is not the truth, to re-emphasise the point, that Britain has paid a ransom of £3,400 million net for the privilege of belonging to a club that has exacted from us in trade and other matters very heavy costs? Is it not also a fact that but for the transitional arrangements negotiated at the beginning of the accession arrangements—the seven-year transitional period—the figures that we would have been paying would be two or three times the current figure, which is already appallingly high? Is it not further a fact that unless the Government really resolve this question on a permanent basis and insist that we shall not go on making a disproportionate contribution, these figures, in a few years' time, will show an even more burdensome and adverse ratio?

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

I find that a curious supplementary question from a right hon. Member who, if my memory does not play me false, was a member of the Government who accepted the so-called renegotiated arrangements, negotiated by his right hon. Friends.

Mr. Shore

indicated dissent.

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

I know that the right hon. Gentleman campaigned against it but, despite that, he was not inhibited from continuing as a member of the Government who had failed to achieve anything of any tangible or lasting value as a result of those negotiations. This Government have already achieved a settlement for our first two years of office that has produced refunds of £1,600 million to date, and we intend to achieve a further satisfactory and lasting settlement now.

Mr. Dykes

Is it not a fact, too, that the net real contribution in the last five years has been about one third or under one half of the figures promolgated in the original pre-entry White Paper, adjusted for prices?

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

My hon. Friend has a fair point. It does not alter the fact, as I am sure my hon. Friend will agree, that we need a permanent resolution of the present balance of the budget to resolve the allocation of resources more satisfactorily than they have been resolved to date.

Mr. Hooley

Can the Minister tell me how I explain to the lower-paid workers in my constituency, who contribute between 40 and 50 per cent. of their incomes in taxation, why, over the years, they should have been giving a subsidy of £3,000 million from their taxes to the richest countries in the world?

Mr. Bruce-Gardyne

The hon. Gentleman might try pointing out that all the evidence from the CBI, and all the other bodies that have examined this prospect, shows that if we had followed the policies that I believe are now advocated by the Labour Party—although they seem to fluctuate from time to time—which include withdrawal from the Community, many of those lower-paid workers in his constituency would be without jobs.