Pat McFadden MP, Labour’s Shadow Europe Minister, commenting on Lord Hill’s appearance at the EU Scrutiny Committee, said:

“The Prime Minister’s own appointee to the new EU Commission, Lord Hill, has now told the EU Scrutiny Committee that calculations like this have happened before and in the past Britain has benefited.

"The more we hear about the Government’s handling of this issue, the more it looks like at the crucial moment Ministers were asleep at the wheel.

"If Ministers had been doing their jobs properly, then they could have entered into discussions with other affected countries and with the EU Commission much earlier.

"The Government must explore this matter in detail, because this remains a large sum of money for the Commission to ask for at such short notice.”

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