what assessment he has made of the circumstances in which the Government would decline to pay any further money to the EU in respect of any shortfall in the EU budget.

Mark Hoban (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Fareham, Conservative): The UK is required to make its contributions under obligations imposed by the treaties. The European Communities Act 1972, and Section 2 in particular, gives effect within the UK to Community law.

The Government remain committed to delivering real budgetary restraint at EU level, having successfully frozen the 2012 EU budget in real terms. The European Commission needs to manage any additional spending pressures within existing budgets. This is a task that national governments face every day and the EU must make the same tough decisions.