Asked by: Lord Stevens of Ludgate (Conservative Independent - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 2 February (HL4233), whether the Government have paid to the European Union an additional £1.7 billion or a reduced amount of £850 million; and if they have paid either amount, what was their rationale for agreeing to make the payment.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
The Chancellor secured a deal that halved the original surcharge to £850m and the UK is in fact paying slightly less than this as our rebate will be £0.1bn higher than anticipated.There has always been an annual adjustment to each member state’s contribution to the EU budget, to take into account of statistical revisions. As for other member states, the UK has historically seen both upward and downward revisions to its contribution to the EU budget.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Ludgate (Conservative Independent - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Deighton on 2 February (HL4233), whether using the British rebate to offset some of the £1.7 billion bill from the European Union will affect the amount of the further rebate available for other purposes; and if so, by how much.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The additional rebate which the UK will receive will not affect future rebate calculations in any way.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Ludgate (Conservative Independent - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the United Kingdom has to pay an additional £1.7 billion contribution to the European Union Budget; and whether any such payment has been reduced or offset.
Answered by Lord Deighton
Last year, the UK was presented with a bill for an additional payment to the EU worth £1.7 billion, reflecting changes to economic data for all Member States and dating as far back as 2002 for the UK. The Prime Minister was clear that this sudden production of a bill to Britain for payment on the 1 December was completely unacceptable.
EU Ministers met on the 7 November, and the Chancellor secured an agreement which meant the UK paid nothing on 1 December. Instead the payment will be made in instalments next year, and no fines or interest will be applied. The UK will also not pay £1.7 billion. The British rebate will apply in full, and apply simultaneously with the payment, not a year in arrears as normal. This means the Government has halved the bill, to around £850 million.
Lastly, the UK won agreement to change the regulations to ensure this never happens again. In the future, if any country received an adjustment demand that is excessive, it will have the same opportunity to phase payments so that they are more affordable.
The Government will continue to press for necessary restraint and discipline in all areas of the EU Budget in order to get the best deal for British taxpayers.
Asked by: Lord Stevens of Ludgate (Conservative Independent - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the European Union's balance of trade with the United Kingdom of any United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union.
Answered by Lord Deighton
The Government has made no assessment of the impact on the European Union's balance of trade with the United Kingdom of any withdrawal from the European Union.
The EU represents a market of over 500 million people with a combined GDP of around £10.5 trillion. It is the largest single market in the world.
The EU is the UK's most important trading partner; 45% of our exports are destined for the EU and seven of the UK's top ten individual trading partners are EU member states.