European Union (Amendment) Bill

I agree with a great deal of what the right hon. and learned Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke) said. For instance, I strongly agree with his attitude to referendums. The only referendum of which I have thoroughly approved is the one that was held when I lived in Leeds, on whether cinemas should open on Sundays. That was a very sensible referendum, but I cannot think of many other sensible referendums. Referendums are exotic European notions, held in countries such as Switzerland. Although I in no way make any comparison to Members of this House who favour a referendum in today’s debate, it must be said that Hitler was a great one for referendums. When he held a referendum in March 1936, his campaign poster urged:"““Every vote for the Führer!””" That is the kind of populism that lies behind referendums, and I do not like them. I was a member of the Labour Government who held a referendum on Europe in 1975. In my view, it was daft to hold it—but Anthony Wedgwood Benn urged it on the Prime Minister, and nothing more needs to be said about any notion urged on anybody by Anthony Wedgwood Benn. The result was not the one that Benn wanted, however—there was a yes vote with a majority of two to one—and he has campaigned against it ever since. I think that he might be out somewhere now with Brian Haw campaigning for a vote in favour of a referendum. The fact is that people accept referendum results only when they agree with them. Members of the Government had a free vote in the 1975 referendum, and I voted no, although I have since become a good deal wiser about the importance to this country of membership of the European Community and the European Union.