European Union (Amendment) Bill

On 3 May 1660, if we want to be absolutely precise. My hon. Friend is right. That is why the kind of change that took place then, and subsequently in 1688—I have tabled an amendment relating to the Bill of Rights, which must also be considered for voting purposes—is so important. Although we talk as if we were completely up to date, the principles on which we are operating represent the gradual dynamic and evolution of our constitution. I am glad that it is as it is, and I want to keep it that way. We can adjust to changing circumstances, as was agreed by Edmund Burke and others who founded the Conservative party. Let me return to the intervention by my right hon. Friend the Member for Chingford and Woodford Green (Mr. Duncan Smith). The acquis communautaire, which clause 6 would enshrine in these provisions, is effectively unalterable within the legal parameters of the European Union and its legal framework. We may be locked into decisions that cannot be changed, notwithstanding practical circumstances such as the economy, globalisation, overregulation and all the other factors that create the system by which we are governed. If we want to make changes, we will have to be able to unlock that arrangement. Written into the European Union is an internal implosion mechanism. When things go wrong—when the unemployment level reaches a certain point, or globalisation and competition with China have an effect—it can apply in the context of several of the provisions in clause 6: provisions relating to social policy, the environment, European finance, enhanced co-operation, common foreign and security policy, and issues on which the adoption of qualified majority voting arises. In any of those contexts, the problem will be that Europe will need to get rid of the overregulation, and we in this country will need to make changes to bring us up to date.