European Union (Accessions) Bill

I have made my point and I am delighted that the right hon. Gentleman has conceded it. I warmly welcome the remarks of the hon. Member for North Antrim (Rev. Ian Paisley), with whom I had the pleasure to serve in the European Parliament. As he said, Romania in particular needs our help. He told some moving tales of religious persecution that struck a chord with all hon. Members. He did not need to remind us that he is not a fan of the European Commission because we have heard that on several occasions. However, he stirred the Opposition’s hearts by saying that it was better to broaden the European Union by bringing in new countries than to deepen it. I join him in wishing Bulgaria and Romania well and I hope that he shares our vision of a more open, more flexible and wider EU. I have a high personal regard for the former Minister for Europe, the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz)—former Ministers for Europe are growing in number so I hope that that is not a bad sign for the current Minister. The hon. Member for Leicester, East said that the Bill was special and that it united all parties. I could not agree more. Perhaps he will reflect on my remarks about the Labour party’s position on previous enlargements and thus form a more mature view of the Opposition’s position. He referred especially to clause 2 on the worker registration scheme. I hope that he accepts that I have dealt with that point. I listened with great interest to the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury (Tony Baldry) about the significant success that the various stages of EU enlargement represent for UK foreign policy. I concur with his conclusion that a phenomenal amount of work remains to be done but, as he said, the success of the EU and our membership of it depends on our being competitive. No one should owe any member of the EU a living. We must be competitive and work hard at that. My hon. Friend also said that we need to reform the common agricultural policy and I agree that we expect great things of the Doha round. I urge the Minister for Trade to convey a strong message from the House about that. Our expectations of a good deal are high. I shall have a private word with him afterwards about the sugar beet growers in the Vale of York. I was delighted to hear the remarks of the hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins), who again drew attention to the need to reform agriculture and spread wealth around. He referred especially to poverty levels in Romania and Bulgaria. My hon. Friend the Member for Totnes mentioned border controls and especially the fact that we are currently asking a lot of the Commission, given the limited number of officials at its disposal. The hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) was one of several hon. Members who referred to anxieties about the Roma people. We take that matter seriously and I hope that Government Front Benchers note his remarks and my concurrence with them. The position of all the minorities, especially the Roma people, has to be tackled. I should like the Government to outline a timetable this evening for their endeavour to do that. My hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) spoke with genuine passion and experience. He referred to a previous Labour Government’s support for the former communist regime and the genuine fear that that inspired.