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		"EU rebate sell-out is treachery" Tuesday 20th December 2005 Brussels – Prime Minister Tony Blair today faced a scathing attack over his EU budget sell-out from East Midlands Conservative MEP Roger Helmer. Mr Helmer, the first British Conservative to speak in the debate in the Brussels parliament, attacked the Prime Minister’s ‘treacherous’ rebate proposals and claimed Mr Blair had failed both the country and the people of the East Midlands. He said that Mr Blair had failed to deliver the ambitious EU reform programme he had promised in June, and had sacrificed seven billion pounds of tax-payers' money simply to cover his own embarrassment and failure. Mr Helmer had previously described the current July/December 2005 British Presidency of the EU as 'the wreckage of shattered dreams’. Speaking from Brussels, Mr Helmer said: “Before the election, Mr Blair promised that Britain’s rebate would remain and would not be negotiated away. Then he said that he would negotiate in exchange for reform. Now we find he has given away over £300 for every household in Britain. He is a desperately bad negotiator, who makes huge concessions in Brussels but gets absolutely nothing in return. “This just underlines that fact that no-one can trust the Prime Minister's word any more. UK taxpayers are being made to bear the brunt of Blair's vanity and his desperation to salvage something from his failed presidency of the EU” Read Roger's speech

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