European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I can go on for longer, but if you want to break with the Companion, that is fair enough. The Conservatives do not like the fact that they want to make this into a narrow constitutional debate and that I am challenging them to break away from short-term political advantage, stop hitching their wagon to eccentric multi-millionaires with the single objective of getting us out of Europe and start talking like Conservatives who have a proud history on Europe. The best thing that the Conservatives did was in the 1980s, when they gave us the single market. If we are going to have a debate today, let us have it in the broad context of Europe. If the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, wants to intervene, that is fine—although I am rather surprised that, given the fact that there are three party leaders, he decided to duck out of speaking today. Perhaps he has the same views on Europe as he has on Lords reform, and did not want to give them.