Conduct of negotiations

Part of European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill – in the House of Commons at 2:30 pm on 8 February 2017.

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Photo of Kit Malthouse Kit Malthouse Conservative, North West Hampshire 2:30, 8 February 2017

My right hon. Friend is concerned about Euratom. Has he considered the alternative? Given that in the last funding round Euratom had to fight very hard to try to maintain its funding, a position it is unlikely to be able to maintain in future, and the fact that the largest single contributors to Horizon 2020, the Germans, have taken the decision to phase out their civil nuclear programme all together, is he not concerned that over the next couple of decades continued membership of Euratom might expose us to diminishing research funding? Exit from the EU could provide us with the opportunity to partner bilaterally with other countries, as we do already with India and South Korea, and therefore expose ourselves to a wider pool of research.