HC Deb 27 October 1980 vol 991 cc117-20W
Mr. Chapman

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the agreed financial mechanism arrangements for adjusting the United Kingdom's budget contribution to the European Community.

Mr. Lawson:

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal gave today to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle).

Mr. Jay

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is his estimate of the gross and net payments, respectively, from the United Kingdom to the EEC budget in the year 31 March 1979 to 31 March of the current year.

Mr. Lawson:

In the year ending 31 March 1980 the gross contribution from the United Kingdom to the EEC budget was £1,668 million. The net payment was £887 million.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total rebate in United Kingdom net contributions to the EEC in 1980–81 agreed at the summit; and what amount he now expects to receive in a cash rebate in 1980–81, in the light of the revision of the agreement made at the meeting of EEC Foreign Ministers in October.

Mr. Lawson:

The agreement on the United Kingdom's net budgetary contributions was reached at the Foreign Affairs Council on 29–30 May and related to Community budget years, that is calendar years, not United Kingdom financial years. On the basis of Commission estimates of our net contributions for those years, it provided for net refunds of 1,175 meua for 1980 and 1,410 meua for 1981—about £710 million and £855 million, respectively, at an exchange rate of 1.65 eua = £1. The decisions of the Foreign Affairs Council on 7 October were concerned with the arrangements for implementing this agreement and did not revise it in any way. For a fuller account of these decisions and their financial effects in 1980–81 I refer my hon. Friend to the Lord Privy Seal's reply today to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle).

Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total amount of EEC assistance for projects he now expects to receive in 1980–81 as part of the rebate agreed at the EEC summit; whether these projects will be projects already planned or new projects; and what will be the implications for public expenditure.

Mr. Lawson:

On the first question, I refer my hon. Friend to the reply today by my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle). The programmes chosen for Community support in 198081 will be programmes already planned or in progress. The planned level of expenditure on these programmes will not be affected, but the forthcoming refunds have enabled these plans to be maintained, along with other public expenditure plans, at levels which the country would not otherwise have been able to afford.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, in the event of the rebates paid to the United Kingdom in 1980–81 in terms of the summit agreement being less than the total for 1980–81 agreed at the summit, the balance will fall to be paid in 1981–82; and, if so, whether the payments will take account of inflation in the interim.

Mr. Lawson:

My right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal has today given details of the arrangements for the payment of the United Kingdom's budget refunds in his reply to my hon. Friend, the Member for Lincoln (Mr. Carlisle). The regulations under which the payments will be made do not provide for any adjustment of the payments to take account of inflation.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the total net contribution made to the EEC in each year since 1973; and what estimate he has made of the net contribution in the current year and in 1981.

Mr. Lawson:

The net contributions to the Community budget by the United Kingdom in the years from 1973 to 1979 inclusive were:

£ million
1973 102
1974 31
1975 −56
1976 167
1977 369
1978 804
1979 948

Forecasts of future United Kingdom net contributions before taking account of the refunds resulting from the 30 May agreement were published in the March public expenditure White Paper, Cmnd. 7841. The final net contribution will depend on the size of the unadjusted net contribution and the exact timing of payments of refunds to us. These cannot be predicted precisely in advance, but my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal has

explained in his statement today what refunds the Government expect to receive in the period immediately ahead.