European Union (Amendment) Bill

I cannot remember whether I have been in favour of a referendum on every European treaty, but I was certainly in favour of one on the Maastricht treaty. On that occasion, I was in a minority in my party, as I am now, but the difference then was that the Government, not having made a commitment to a referendum, were not obliged and honour-bound to have one, unlike us; we are so obliged. I voted for a referendum on Maastricht, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for allowing me to bring that up, but the situation then was different, because that Government did not make a commitment to having a referendum. We did. I have heard many arguments against referendums, and many people regret the commitment that we made at that time, but regretting the commitment is not the same thing as saying that we did not make it. I understand the point about repenting at leisure, and I believe many people are doing so, but let us remember why we entered into the commitment in the first place. It was for base electoral reasons, and I am glad we did so. None the less, we must honour the commitment that we made.