European Union (Amendment) Bill

I do not know whether the noble Lord, Lord Owen, is an enthusiast, as I am, for the political novels of Anthony Trollope, but if he is, he will remember that there was constant reference by parliamentarians throughout the last part of the 19th century for what they called Constitutional Questions, and the Radicals, Liberals and Conservatives argued back and forth whether something was or was not a constitutional question; it could have been 1880, although it is now 2008. I do not think there is any value in spending a lot of time on that question. There would be value if we had a written constitution and if, as the noble Lord, Lord Howell, seems to wish, we had a constitutional court that had to decide whether something was or was not a constitutional question. We do not have that. We have a rubbery, elusive, unwritten constitution with all the benefits and burdens that that creates. If one were serious in seeking to answer the question posed by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, the answer would not be that of Karl Marx given by the noble Lord, Lord Howell, that a change of quantity brings about a change in quality—dialectical materialism. I was pleased to hear that the Conservative Benches had become Marxist. That is not the right answer. The right answer is that in truth the constitutional arrangements between this country and the European Union were profoundly altered when we joined the Community, when the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe of Aberavon—I am not sure whether he is in his place—