European Union (Amendment) Bill

I have to say to the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, that his plea for proper line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill would carry a bit more weight if there was a single Liberal amendment on the Marshalled List. There are no Liberal amendments. I find that very surprising as his party made a great play in the other place of tabling an amendment for a referendum on a slightly different question—which, of course, under the rules of this House would be perfectly in order. I dare say that the scrutiny to which the Bill will be subject certainly on these Benches will prove to be excruciatingly embarrassing for him and his party. The noble Lord, Lord Lester, talked in his speech about how he was mystified as to why there was so much interest in the use of the word ““constitution””, because we do not have a constitutional court. He told us that he had read the treaty as part of his duties in this House—we all sympathise with him, and no one more than Giscard d’Estaing, who has described how impenetrable the treaty is—and said that he could not understand why so much emphasis has been put on the use of the word ““constitution””. I suggest that he read page 13 of the Liberal Party’s 2005 manifesto, which states: "““We are therefore clear in our support for the constitution which we believe is in Britain’s interest—but ratification must be subject to a referendum of the British people””." My noble friend’s amendment, which I support, will not be supported by the Liberal and the Labour Benches, despite the fact that what it says is blindingly obvious. They are opposed to it because it draws attention to the embarrassment that they carry, having told a lie to the British people during the general election campaign when they promised a referendum on this treaty. That is why the words which my noble friend wishes to add to the Bill are so important. They remind people that a promise was made and a promise has been broken. It is the deceit that is central to the handling of this Bill, a deceit which was underlined in the debate on Second Reading. I usually enjoy the speeches of the Leader of the Liberal Party in this House. However, when he said that the Liberals had changed their position on these matters—from one of promising a referendum, to one of abstention, to one of being determined to vote in this House against a referendum—he gave as one of the explanations that the arithmetic in this House is different from that in the House of Commons. That a party should decide its policy on arithmetic, having given a solemn pledge to the British people, is quite extraordinary. So this amendment is important. It draws attention to the blindingly obvious, and it is something for which two parties in this House will have to account to the electorate in due course.