European Union (Amendment) Bill

I found two contributions to today’s debate on the amendments very persuasive. First, I thought that the contribution from the noble Lord, Lord Owen, made a telling point about constitutional amendments and that when we think that something affects our constitution we should be clear and straightforward about that. I also found that the detailed analysis by the noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, reflected the very thoughtful and penetrative contributions that he made during the work of the Select Committee on this treaty. For me, the whole question comes down to two issues: what is a constitutional arrangement and what changes amount to real alterations and real amendments? That is the first point. Secondly, are they of sufficient importance in this treaty to merit particular mention in the Bill? There is no doubt, looking at the changes in this treaty, that there are institutional changes, operational changes and definitions of competences. There are the red lines that have been drawn that affect the extent of the changes in the relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, and no mention has been made of those. It seems to me that what the Bill is talking about at the moment has no more of a constitutional impact than that which we have seen in previous treaties, and that what we really see here are changes to who does what and the operational way in which we conduct our business between ourselves and the European Union. I thought that the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean, would be more persuasive if he could possibly be a little bit less offensive in how he expresses his very forthright views. People who disagree with us are not necessarily liars; they are not necessarily deceitful, monstrous people. There can actually just be straightforward political disagreement, and that is what we are dealing with here, not some horrible perfidy on one part of the House rather than the other.