European Union (Amendment) Bill

I want to oppose amendment No. 237. As I am Parliamentary Private Secretary to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health, I shall exclude from my comments amendment No. 223, which is on a health-related matter. Our constituents watch us doing the important work of scrutinising the treaty and amendments and trying to improve it. It is right and proper that they ensure that we do a good job, but the principal aim of Members must be that the amendments make a difference to the treaty, which I believe to be a fantastic step forward for my constituents. Amendments Nos. 237 and 238 in particular will not achieve that—they will not improve the treaty that we eventually ratify, as I am sure we will, in any way, shape or form. It is important to bear in mind where my constituents sit in the context of the United Kingdom's economic well-being. My constituency is at the centre of what is described as the Gatwick diamond—and a diamond of a constituency it is. What my constituents will want to know is how the amendments will make it easier for members of the local business community to do their job. The area is highly prosperous, and attracts businesses from all over the United Kingdom and, indeed, all over Europe to settle close to the second largest airport in the country. Those businesses will want to know whether the amendments will make it any easier for them to do their job, and I do not believe that they will. The treaty is a reasonable and proportionate response to the need to ensure that businesses can do their job. It enables us to deliver the rest of the Government's agenda, and get more people into jobs and apprenticeships so that companies can thrive and extend their operations. Many of our constituents who will be affected by the treaty have openly expressed their belief that it will do in its current form, and they will take the view that the amendments will not help in any way. In the earlier debate, Members quoted various experts. It was often quite difficult to understand who those experts were, and how they came to be experts. I think it more important for us to consider the views of members of the business community who are having to work in the European Union, and who are trying to do their jobs. They welcome the sense of partnership conferred not just by the internal market but by the benefits that it brings to the work force, and they are discomfited by proposals such as these from the official Opposition. They are made uncomfortable by the possibility of changes in the way in which they do business, gaining access to nearly 500 million consumers. We can feel confident that those consumers are being treated decently, and can reap the benefits of the good working conditions for which trade unionists in this country worked for many years. The European Union is now improving those conditions further, and the treaty is updating them. Let me end by quoting not an expert or someone who has put himself forward just to oppose the treaty, but a letter written to The Times in the middle of last year arguing against one of its leaders. The letter accepts that there are difficulties, that the situation is tough, and that we must work together and understand each other to deal with the problems that have been discussed in the House today. It concludes:"““But over all the EU treaty is not a federalist monster but a sensible attempt to improve its institutional machinery.””"