My Lords, it must be about a quarter of a century or more since the noble Lord, Lord Kinnock, first began making an impact on my perception of him. At that stage, I knew that we shared only one view; that we were both proud to be Welshmen. Hearkening to his tremendously enthusiastic presentation of the case for Europe as it is today, I have to say that he has come a long way in the past quarter of a century. In saying that, I do not wish to present myself as having huge affection for this complex, marathon treaty, but I firmly support the Bill. I do that simply because failure to ratify this treaty now would be a serious blow to the credibility and effectiveness of the United Kingdom in many different ways. It would be seriously damaging to fundamental national interests. In particular, to repudiate the treaty, even if stated to be in search of some hitherto almost wholly undefined alternative, would be a bluntly negative signal of our recurrent recidivist and often continuing incapacity to play the part that we should be playing in the European Union.
Indeed, our lack of will to work in the effective European partnership that is fundamental to our future is sad when it comes at a time when it has never been more necessary. I hold no brief for the marketing of this less than poetic text. It has probably been imperfectly negotiated by a Government that came into office at a time of huge opportunity to present the positive case for a British view of a reinvigorated European Union and to sell that case with the clarity and confidence that they had when they were elected with a huge majority 10 years ago. They have faltered in their management and handling of that case, and we are lucky that they have moved as much as they have now.
It has to be said in their favour that they are by no means the first Government to have faltered in this way. If one goes back to the days of Clement Attlee and Anthony Eden, in the afterglow of victory at a time when, as the late Lord Peyton explained in his memoirs, characteristically entitled Without Benefit of Laundry, we allowed our justifiable pride in our victory, which had carried us through the war, to turn into conceit instead of pride and condescension towards the new Europe that was then emerging. That is why we were so late to join that enterprise and why we still hesitate to play the part that we should.
Fortunately, that negative attitude was overcome increasingly by the view expressed initially by Winston Churchill; it was clear enough when the iron curtain was still in place that Europe had to get its act together as he commended. It was clear enough to successive leaders; Harold Macmillan, Lord Home, Edward Heath, Roy Jenkins, John Smith; and, if I may say so, it was clear to most of us of that generation, as it was in many ways to my noble friend Lady Thatcher, who is not with us at the moment. For all the controversy that emerged from the speech that she made in Bruges in September 1988, she said: "““And let me be quite clear. Britain does not dream of some cosy, isolated existence on the fringes of the European Community. Our destiny is in Europe, as part of the Community””."
In the year that followed that, her view and mine diverged increasingly and uncomfortably, but those propositions were important then.
Those sentiments enabled us to carry through Parliament the European consequences of two well-balanced treaties, as the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, has pointed out; the European Communities Act 1972 and the Single European Act 1986. I had the privilege of being on the Front Bench in the other place for both those Bills, and I recollect that on the first we had 53 working days, I made 91 speeches and we carried our majority in 104 divisions. The Single European Act was completed in six days.
The decades since Bruges have been rather different. As the iron curtain came down and tensions relaxed, despite the successive enlargement, the focus on the importance of Europe has become less clear, and that is why we have, for example, in this treaty absorbed unnecessary things. I never quite understood why the additional fundamental charter needed to be there, but we seem to have been able to disentangle ourselves from that now. Such distractions are to be regretted, particularly at a time as the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, has emphasised, when the need for European partnership and union, not least in the field of foreign affairs, has never been clearer.
One need only mention not so much the agenda items that the noble Lord mentioned—climate change, energy or trade negotiations—but the changing shape of the world, including the emergence of China and India as new and growing powers, the re-emergence of Russia with its new ambitions to recover the empire that it did not mean to lose, and the increasing unsettlement throughout the Middle East. In all those respects, we need to be more, not less, effective in our partnership with European countries. We need to be so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of the transatlantic alliance with the United States.
This treaty in no way diminishes the way in which British foreign policy can be formulated and presented. It in no way threatens our seat at the United Nations Security Council; but it does enable us, through a new structure that is more manageable and effective, to strengthen our clout as a member of the European Union and to amplify our influence beyond that which we would be able to exercise if we were to continue to operate on an increasingly minority wicket. That has been the message that I have never doubted, with which I have bored the House for decades, since I first wrote a letter to a school friend in 1950. In a world where the relative arithmetic has been changing so fundamentally, Britain’s influence can and should be maximised by continuing increasingly effective participation in the European Union. This treaty, for all its odds and ends and for all its complexities—so lucidly explained by the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell—is an important step in that direction for the enhancement of British influence.
What of the referendum? I cannot help grieving at the fact that we are in a Parliament in which at the last election the three major parties committed themselves to a referendum. I believed that it was an unwise commitment at the time. As I have said on previous occasions, the only referenda of which I have approved were those that I suggested in 1962 for Sunday opening of the pubs in Wales. That is an issue that people can understand. It took the Welsh people 35 years to liberate themselves, but in the end they achieved it. Referenda on issues of this kind are, quite frankly, a gamble. The three political parties gambled because they were in competitive confusion with each other. Every referendum commitment of that kind has been entered into not so much because of the importance of the issue, but because of the importance of the conflict taking place at home. Proposing such a referendum has always been high risk, it has done much damage to the credibility of political leadership and I cannot bring myself to say a word in support of one.
I grieve at the fact that all three political parties, including my own, have committed themselves so unwisely. Democracy requires leadership, and often effective and strong political leadership which is not trying to compete in the kind of way that too many of us can recognise as being contrary to the national interest. This Bill should be carried through without being encumbered by a resurrection of a referendum.
European Union (Amendment) Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Howe of Aberavon
(Conservative)
in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 1 April 2008.
It occurred during Debate on bills
and
Debates on select committee report on European Union (Amendment) Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
700 c885-8 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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Timestamp
2023-12-16 02:09:46 +0000
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