European Union (Amendment) Bill

I want to make progress, because I am conscious that other Members want to speak. Before I conclude, I want to say something about the Liberal Democrats. [Hon. Members: ““Why?””] It is good to have a bit of light amusement at some point in a speech. The Liberal Democrats have got themselves in a terrible mess. As has been pointed out time and again, they only agreed to hold a referendum because they thought that it would never happen. The moment that they thought that it would happen, they no longer wanted it. They can go on telling the public that one document is different from another, but as Lincoln said, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. That is what the Liberal Democrats set out to do and they have been found out. How can they have a principled position of sitting on a fence? Those who do that get splinters in their arse and then they get into trouble. The Liberal Democrats are in trouble right now and the best thing for them to do is to get off the fence. In conclusion, I am in favour of a referendum because the arguments cannot be properly made unless the public are brought in. The Government gave a pledge to hold a referendum. I do not care what they called it; it is the same treaty. They may have behaved cynically, but they should be held to account. I do not know what it is about Europe that seems to change the mentality of Governments. As soon as parties get into government, they dare not do anything that might upset the European Union. Immediately, their arguments go to the extreme. The Government panic and say, ““We cannot hold a referendum because that would lead to the process of getting out. That would be a nightmare. We would be cast into the outer darkness. We would be on the periphery of Europe. Nobody will speak to us. We will be cast out, all because we want to vote on the treaty.”” Who told the French and the Dutch that? Who said that they would be cast out when they voted against the constitution? Surprise, surprise, they were not cast out. Everybody said, ““Oh my God, we have to accommodate the French and the Dutch. Let’s start all over again and have another look at it.”” As a sovereign nation state, we have every right to make that statement in exactly the same way as the Dutch and the French. I ask the House to have a little self-confidence. All of us came here to state that we do not believe a word the Government say until they show it in the text, in writing and in detail. We do not believe or trust them until we see how the treaty will work. Too many Labour Back Benchers are too ready to trust their Government when the Government say, ““Please trust us.”” Tonight they should support the hon. Member for Glasgow, South-West when he proposes his amendment.