Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

I am not taking any more interventions, as I promised Mr. Deputy Speaker that I shall not take my full time. In the short term, it is crazy to believe in a competitive economy and not to accept the fairly modest changes in the Lisbon treaty to extend liberalisation through qualified majority voting in the energy markets—that is vital for the companies that I mentioned but also for everyone else—in telecommunications, where Britain has a fairly strong role and it would definitely be in our interests, and in financial markets and services. In the long term, were I speaking on behalf of British business generally—I am speaking only on behalf of businesses in my constituency—I would worry that a major political party in Britain has such a low commitment to the European Union that it puts at risk all the benefits that were mentioned by the right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal and which are available from the single market. All those companies and all the people who trade in Europe recognise that by any sort of definition of a civilised industrial scene, it is not possible to have a single market without a social market. Both are taken together, and then we look for reform. It is important to reform them both so that they both work effectively.