The rebate should go in exchange for CAP reform  It is worth giving the rebate up in exchange for serious reform of the EU budget, particularly of the Common Agricultural Policy which spends 40% of the EU’s budget [1] on 3% of its population. [2] The CAP not only wastes taxpayers’ money, it also raises the cost of food for European consumers, ruins the environment and prevents poor farmers in the developing world from trading their way out of poverty. Even in its own terms it is a disaster, for most CAP money goes to a small number of rich landowners running huge agribusiness estates, not to small-scale peasant farmers preserving the traditional rural way of life. If offering to give up the British rebate helps to get agreement on reform, then it is a sacrifice well worth making. Britain on the other hand favors using CAP more to protect the environment rather than encourage food production. [3]  [1] Europa, ‘Budget 2011 in figures’, 2011  [2] Eurobarometer, ‘Europeans, Agriculture and the Common Agricultural Policy’, 2007, p.9  [3] Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, ‘The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013’, 2011