§ Mr. Ioan Evansasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the latest estimate of the United Kingdom contribution to the European Economic Community fund was; and what action he proposes to reduce this amount.
§ Mr. Lawson[pursuant to his reply, 17th January 1980]: A forecast of our 897W net contributions to the European Communities and to the European Investment Bank of about £1 billion in 1980–81 was published in "The Government's Expenditure Plans 1980–81"—Cmnd. 7746. We have made it clear to our Community partners that this figure is unacceptably high and that we are looking for agreement on measures that would reduce it very substantially when the European Council next meets.