EU Council

Elfyn Llwyd Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I agree wholeheartedly with what my right hon. Friend says and I will reassure those businesses. The absolutely key thing is that the single market, which is fully protected by the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and all the institutions of the EU, is unchanged. We have full membership of those treaties and of that organisation, and because the other EU members are going for a treaty outside the EU, that protection will remain. I would say to those businesses that not only do we maintain the single market, but we will keep up the pressure for something else they need, which is a more fundamental solution to the crisis affecting the eurozone.

[Mr Elfyn Llwyd (Dwyfor Meirionnydd) (PC)]

The UK is 90,000 square miles in area, but the Prime Minister seems to think that only one square mile is of any importance. May I put it to him that his colleague—the self-styled “pragmatic revolutionary”—the Deputy Prime Minister was heavily supportive of the Prime Minister on Thursday and Friday, but was yesterday condemning him? Does the Prime Minister have any idea what he is thinking now?

[The Prime Minister]

On the issue of financial services, this is not about just one square mile of the United Kingdom. I think of people working in the financial services industry in Cardiff, and I think of banks, building societies and insurance businesses right across Wales. They need to know that there is fair regulation within the EU and they want those safeguards too. It is not just about those industries on their own; it is about the support they give to the other industries as well.