Nick Clegg takes credit for his role in EU budget cut The new agreement marks the first time the EU's multi-year budget has fallen. Speaking in the Commons Mr Clegg was asked by Andrea Leadsom, Tory MP for South Northamptonshire, if he regretted his previous comments about the prospects of a cut. She said: "Do you now believe the Prime Minister is on a bit of a roll and may also be successful in achieving the real repatriation and renegotiation of powers in the EU that will give Britain a better deal?" Mr Clegg replied by highlighting his role in building alliances with other EU nations to support a reduction. "The lesson of the highly successful summit last week is that it is important to set out a tough, but realisable negotiating position," Mr Clegg said. I spent months making the case for the tough approach that we took with politicians around the European Union - then reaching out to create alliances with other countries... the Dutch, the Swedes, the Danes and crucially the Germans and then winning the argument. Douglas Carswell, Tory MP for Clacton, said: "Nick Clegg to claiming credit for a reduction in the EU budget shows why people don't believe politicians. It is ludicrous and implausible.