European Union (Amendment) Bill

I cannot blame the hon. Gentleman. I missed his speech the first, second, third, fourth and fifth time that he gave it, so I was delighted to hear a reprise of it this evening. We also had an uncharacteristic contribution from the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory). He is not here now, so perhaps I shall refer to it later. In passing, I shall just say that he had all the passion of a convert in paying penance for his role in almost single-handedly achieving parliamentary ratification of the Maastricht treaty while deputy Chief Whip. If he returns to his place later, I shall respond to him in more detail, if time allows. The first group of amendments represents a systematic attempt by those on the Conservative Benches to undermine, in specific ways, the basic foundations of the single market—foundations that have been accepted by successive British Governments since the UK's accession. Amendment No. 237 is a good illustration of that point. The right hon. Member for Wells celebrated the fact that every market needs rules, which of course, it does. However, that amendment would remove the principle of exclusive EU competence over competition rules for the single market. As the House will be aware, EU competition rules are an exclusive competence. How could they be otherwise? The Lisbon treaty defines competition rules as rules that are"““necessary for the functioning of the internal market””." In other words, they are EU-wide rules. By definition, only the EU can adopt rules that apply across the EU. That is not new. Competition rules that are necessary for the functioning of the single market have always been an exclusive EU competence. It is important to note that the EU already occupies that well-established competition ground. The core competition rules are contained in articles 81 to 89 of the current treaty and their effect is carried over unchanged. Amendment No. 232 attacks the recognition in the Lisbon treaty of the fact that the single market is a shared competence between member states and the EU. It would remove the UK from the operation of the single market, which cannot work except as a shared competence. For the single market to operate effectively throughout all 27 EU member states, it is essential to manage some activities at EU level. Thanks to the shared competence, barriers have been removed throughout the single market, making free movement of goods a reality. That has brought billions of pounds of additional income to UK citizens. Amendment No. 195 would prevent the UK from effecting the protocol on the internal market and competition. It attacks the legally binding protocol language that the UK secured to reproduce the competition wording from the current treaty, which guarantees that the legal effect is unchanged. The legal nature of a protocol has been the subject of much conversation before today, as well as in today's proceedings. However, 17 protocols were annexed to the treaty of Maastricht. Protocol 11 was a legal guarantee that the UK was not obliged or committed to move to the third stage of economic and monetary union. That was arguably the most important item in the Maastricht treaty for the UK. Claiming that protocols matter less than treaties is therefore nonsense. The Lisbon treaty states:"““The Protocols and Annexes to this Treaty shall form an integral part thereof.””" Former Prime Minister John Major said that the protocols agreed at Maastricht would become an integral part of the treaty of Rome and have equal legal force.