European Union (Amendment) Bill

Perhaps we should write a pamphlet together on that subject, as I completely agree with the hon. Gentleman. It is crude to see us as advocating either completely unfettered capitalism or as going down the opposite path. I am in favour of enlightened social policies, but conducted within a framework of rigorous competition taking place within a European single market. That is a position that some people in the Labour party have come to view sympathetically, which is why we agree with the Government on this point and disagree with the Conservative party. Before that fascinating question and answer session—[Interruption.]—fascinating for some, as I cannot speak for everyone in that regard, I was speaking to our amendment (a) to amendment No. 195. That amendment, tabled by my hon. Friends and me, is constructive: unlike many of the Conservative amendments, it is not designed to wreck the treaty, but to strengthen it. I do not anticipate that the House will decide on it, as that would require amendment No. 195 to be passed first, but I do not anticipate that that will be successful either. The nub of the amendment is our concern about the concession widely recognised as having been made to placate the French Government regarding the taking out of the phrase ““free and undistorted competition”” from the original document when the revisions were made. We hear it said frequently by the Conservatives that the two documents are almost identical—indeed, so similar that no distinction can be made between them. On this point, there is a distinction to be made. I was in favour of ““free and undistorted competition”” in the earlier constitutional treaty and I regret its having been taken out. Yet again, I am in the unusual position of outflanking the Conservatives by being more pro-business than they are.