European Union (Amendment) Bill

The problem with Conservative Members is that when I am trying to talk about the interests of British business, all they seem to be interested in is their hang-up on the issue of a referendum. I risk being pulled up short, but let me try to take the House through the incremental steps in response to the question. Everyone recognises that this issue of the referendum is a rather small aspect of the overall treaty—[Interruption.] I see that the Minister for Europe, who virtually lives in the Chamber nowadays, probably feels that this conversation is taking up another 20 minutes or half an hour more of our time in the days and weeks of debate about the different aspects of the treaty. I would not see this aspect as the linchpin of the treaty. Our view on the referendum issue is that the constitution superseded all previous treaty agreements and that the treaty is different in nature. The content—