i i asked the er the minister earlier about this question and i appreciate his difficulties being a home office minister rather than a foreign office minister and i quite understand his reluctance to er  stray too far from his departmental portfolio but the reality is that the british government agreed that the european parliament should continue to meet in strasbourg but we've heard nothing from the minister as to where the money should come from er in order to make that commitment a reality because i'm sure that every member opposite would say that the uncertainty about the present boundaries is not the er responsibility of the british government, that it's a matter for the french government to sort out which boundaries er will be in place in the united kingdom by june the ninth, the date of the european elections, but the reality is that the british government have gone along with the arrangement for having strasbourg recognised as a er seat for the european parliament.