European Union (Amendment) Bill

The hon. Gentleman can say what he likes. I am setting out the argument as I want to present it. If people were more conscious of the effect of European legislation, they would be more likely to take part in such debates and in elections. We need to ask whether all this matters. I believe that it matters profoundly. Let me quote Burke once more. In his famous speech on constitutional reform in 1782, he said:"““Our constitution stands on a nice equipoise with steep precipices and deep waters upon all sides of it.””" That is where we are in relation to the Bill. We should not forget that our Parliament has been the bastion of freedom for hundreds of years in Europe, and was the foundation of our successful resistance of tyranny in two world wars that saved Europe from itself. What an irony that the mother of Parliaments now faces a reverse takeover from its siblings. We face not a theological abstraction—not just some vague concept of sovereignty—but practical questions to which people want answers. However, the people simply do not yet know how far all this has gone in relation to the competences, the exclusivity, the sharing of those competences, and the power that has drained away from this place due to the fields in which we cannot legislate. The Minister has admitted by implication that very little is left, and the European Court of Justice rules supreme.