Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

I had assumed that there would be quite a high degree of consensus on this part of the treaty debate. After all, as the Conservative spokesman conceded in his peroration, we are talking about the single area that almost everyone accepts represents an achievement on the part of the EU. Equally, the six provisions in the treaty relating specifically to economic matters are not especially controversial. They do not apply to the euro and, weak though they are, they are broadly helpful to the UK where they apply to intellectual property rights and self-employment. The other major provision relates to social security and is governed by veto, so the economic clauses do not contain an enormous amount to get worked up about. The Sarkozy change is one issue of controversy, and the hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr. Hammond) managed to make a half-hour speech out of it. He massively overstated his point, but I happen to agree that it is unhelpful in the extreme that economic nationalisation should have emerged, in France and elsewhere. In addition, the concession made by the British Government may be symbolic but it is rather damaging. The right hon. Member for Leicester, West (Ms Hewitt), the former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, made it clear that absolutely nothing has changed legally, and that was helpful. Even so, the concession represents a step backwards in political terms, and that is why we have tabled some amendments to ensure that that aspect of the treaty is monitored as it proceeds.