European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Lord, Lord Lester, is absolutely right. The European Communities Act 1972 fundamentally altered relations in this country and this country’s constitution. That is why some of us who were against that treaty spoke and voted against it and have been against any further erosion, if I can put it that way, of British sovereignty through the various treaties that have been passed by this House and another place over the years. The country and Parliament were undoubtedly misled by the idea that we were simply joining a common market. They should not have been; anybody who read the treaty of Rome, as the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has, realised that that was the start of a great journey that was bound to end in a federal European state. There is no question about that in my mind, and that is why I have remained an opponent of our membership of the Common Market, which has now become the European Union. I believe in the unity, freedom and nationhood of the United Kingdom, and I believe that that cannot be maintained as long as we are in the European Union. However, we are not discussing staying in or going out, we are talking about this treaty. We talk about democracy in this country; indeed, we lecture other people about it, but democracy is not about having elections every five years or about putting something in a manifesto and then saying things have changed, although they have not changed, so we do not need to implement that part of the manifesto. I am talking about the promise in the manifesto of each major party that there would be a referendum on the constitutional treaty. The Government say, ““It is not the constitutional treaty””, although some of us have read the Lisbon treaty and the constitutional treaty and took part in the debates on the constitutional treaty in the Joint Committee set up between both Houses of Parliament. We know that the constitution has been transferred to the Lisbon treaty. The Government are making a big mistake—no doubt we will come to this later in our debates—in not going for a referendum. If they are confident in their policy, if they are confident in what they say about the Lisbon treaty, if they are confident in the role that they are taking, they ought to have the courage to go to the people to say, ““Look here, we are at an important point of our progress within the European Union. Now we want you to have a say””. That is real democracy; it is not trying to get round a promise that you have made in a manifesto which you are frightened that you may not be able to keep if the people say you cannot do it. The question of democracy must be put in its proper context. I fear that the Government’s failure—and the failure of the Liberal Democrats to deliver on a manifesto promise—will not do them any good. Let me emphasise the changes that the treaty will make. They are fundamental changes, as the noble Lord, Lord Owen, pointed out. For example, there is the permanent or semi-permanent presidency. It was never envisaged in 1972 that we would have a president of Europe, but that is what this fundamental change will mean. When the previous Prime Minister, Mr Blair, was discussing that issue he said quite firmly that the president of Europe would speak for Europe on the world stage—not individual Prime Ministers or heads of state but the president of the European Union. He foresaw that the presidency was going to be a very important job and would set the debate in Europe, set the agenda in Europe and talk for Europe on the world stage. I am quite sure that the people of this country do not want that—80 per cent of them want a referendum, but they are not going to have one. The other great change in this treaty is the establishment of Europe as a single entity, giving it a single personality. People say, ““That does not really matter””, but it does, because it will enable the European Union in its own right to make treaties with other countries without let or hindrance from the nation states, which will not have to ratify such treaties. That is another important change. There is also the question of a Foreign Secretary. There is no doubt about the intention—indeed, the treaty lays down the importance given to that office. We in this country believe that the Foreign Secretary and the Government carry out Her Majesty’s foreign policy. Once this treaty is put into operation, we will have not Her Majesty’s foreign policy but his presidency’s foreign policy. That, again, is a fundamental and important change, which will not be welcome once it is seen in practice. There are many other aspects, but we will come to those shortly. I hope that the Committee will have a full, frank and reasonable discussion. In the mean time, I support the amendment.