Lisbon Treaty (No.1)

What happened in the negotiations calls for some explanation from the Government, but we have not yet heard a word of explanation from the Home Secretary. It is argued that co-ordinating immigration policy might have benefits. I fully acknowledge that, but let us consider just one thing: the rights of third country nationals, including those who might have irregular status or be having their status regularised, to move around the EU at will. The Government said that they considered the retention of a national immigration policy to be essential. That was rather strong language, but they clearly no longer consider that essential, because they have allowed the provisions to which they objected to go through. The hon. Member for Wolverhampton, South-West (Rob Marris) commented, quite rightly, on civil justice. The Government were seriously concerned about a clause in article 65 on civil justice and the maintenance of judicial independence. If I may say so to the Home Secretary, that does not seem to be a slight matter. The Government's concerns concentrated on the fact that, in a rather innocuous form, article 65 said that it would provide"““support for the training of the judiciary and judicial staff.””" The Government were not against that; indeed, one can see that it might be quite useful in some European countries, particularly some of the new accession members. The Government wanted the inclusion of an easy little phrase that would recognise the need to maintain judicial independence, but the European Union negotiators—the other participants—denied them that amendment. What is the Home Secretary's view about that? Does she consider it irrelevant? I should like to give her an opportunity to intervene, if she wants to. I do not think that the independence of the judiciary is an irrelevant consideration, so I hope that we shall hear from the Government at some point in this debate about that important point. There are other examples to which one can turn, particularly in the field of crime and justice. Crime and justice, despite the Home Secretary's trying gently to avoid the point, have never been subject to any of the European Union architecture, until now. There is bilateral co-operation under the aegis of the European Union, but there is no enforceability in respect of the agreements that we reach. That is to change, particularly if the Government choose to opt in. What are we to make of article 69A, which provides, for example, that there may be provision for the EU to take powers to deal with"““the rights of individuals in criminal procedure””?" I simply say this to all my hon. Friends—to those who may be in favour of the treaty or those who may be against it: the House is entitled to an explanation of why that provision is included, what the Government think about it and whether, leaving aside the opt-in for one moment, they think that there is any risk of intrusive activity by the Commission and the European Court of Justice in criminal procedure, which is an area in which they have consistently said that they ought not to be involved? Indeed, the Government said:"““Paragraph 2 is unacceptable in its current form. In particular, the intent on the 'definition of the rights of individuals in criminal procedure' would cover almost any aspect of criminal procedure during an investigation, prosecution and conviction. It is essential that this article is restricted in scope and is made subject to unanimity.””" In terms of the generality of the treaty, however, they have secured nothing of the kind.