§ Mr. Proctorasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will estimate the level of 558W contributions to be made by the United Kingdom to the European Community in (a) the current year and (b) each of the next five years on the basis of the agreement reached at Fontainebleau on 26 June; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RifkindIt is not possible to give precise estimates of the United Kingdom net contribution either in the current year, or over the next five. We cannot yet know the size of the budget in future years, and hence what rate of VAT will actually be called up if the theoretical ceiling is raised to 1.4 per cent. Even in the current year our share of receipts from the budget is not yet clear. What is clear, as my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister told the House on 27 June, is that we shall receive a flat-rate refund of some £600 million this year. Thereafter we shall receive 66 per cent. of the sum represented by the gap between our VAT share of the budget, and our share of receipts from it.