European Union (Amendment) Bill

From a sedentary position, my right hon. Friend mentioned the word ““Tory””, although I do not recognise that in the Scottish National party. That party has responded to the wishes of the Scottish people not to be represented by any party that takes the same political line and social balance in its policies as the Conservative party. Perhaps the Scottish National party has not yet realised that even aligning itself with the Conservative party to get its policies through in Scotland may come back to haunt it, as happened to many councils that relied on Conservative support. I should like to put on the record my thanks to the Foreign Secretary, the Minister for Europe and their shadow counterparts for how they have led this debate. I have no negative comments about the humour introduced, intellectually and pointedly, by the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague). He quoted Giscard d'Estaing a little too much for me; I was getting a little bored by that. He forgot to quote the Dutch Council of State, which considered the new treaty and said that it was not a constitution. The right hon. Gentleman did not quote the French either; furthermore, even the Danish could not raise a party to campaign for a referendum in their Parliament. The reality is that throughout Europe, no party thinks that the treaty is a constitution—except the party that wants to use that for political advantage in this Chamber.