Part of Bill Presented — Financial Services – in the House of Commons at 1:38 pm on 26 January 2012.
Alas, I have not had the opportunity to test that quote with my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister, but I will do so as soon as I have the opportunity.
A number of Members, including the hon. Members for Ilford South (Mike Gapes), for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) and for Wolverhampton North East (Emma Reynolds) and Mr MacShane, spoke about engagement in Europe. We are engaged. As my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham said, the Deputy Prime Minister hosted a meeting of various liberal European Prime Ministers, Commissioners, Deputy Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers on
As for lack of engagement and isolation, I am astonished that the presumption of the hon. Member for Wolverhampton North East in bringing to the House a challenge to the Government when the Opposition’s position is distinctly unclear. We will continue to work hard with our many allies in Europe to advance our interests. It is not isolation; it is defending the national interest. We differ from others in that we are not in the euro and do not want to join. We will not proceed with plans for fiscal consolidation if we feel that we are not protected. We will continue to work hard to advance our interests. One thing that would have made Britain weaker was coming home with a treaty change and no safeguards.
If the Opposition want to criticise the Government’s policy, they need to say what they would have done in office, but last month in the space of 10 days they had three different positions: first they refused to say what they would do, then they said that they would have vetoed the treaty, and then they said they would not have done so. They would have some credibility if they had a policy, and a bit of consistency would help.
This useful debate has concentrated not only on engagement and the like, but on the prospects for next Monday. The UK has an ambitious agenda for growth in Europe, and it is one we share with many like-minded states across Europe. It is also an agenda on which we have made much progress already throughout the last year. We will continue to ensure that we put our national interests first and to have a policy from a united party in relation to the UK interests in Europe. We will continue to look for partners who will share that interest, and at the moment the EU is calling for growth, competitiveness and more jobs.
One and a half hours having elapsed since the commencement of proceedings, the motion lapsed (