European Union (Amendment) Bill

That is an almost philosophical debate, which is why I was going to save it for the next big debate we have, in which the noble Lord will play a leading light. I am sure he will because he has played a leading light in every debate we have had so far. There is an interesting discussion to be had about when the European Union, member states, the Commission and so on put forward proposals for areas to be discussed and deliberated. We have just had a brief discussion about healthcare, and noble Lords will know that there were proposals at the European Council that my right honourable friend the Prime Minister went to last time that we feel particularly concerned about; for example, proposals to do with climate change and international issues. Ten years ago, those issues might well not have been on the agenda at a European Council, but I would argue—and I suspect the noble Lord might agree with me—that they are issues that need to be tackled internationally, not by an individual state. They demonstrate that agendas in Europe change depending upon the issues coming forward, many of which increasingly require international, certainly Europe-wide, responses. It is therefore not a simple question of saying that these are the areas that would never be discussed. Another example is that issues to do with banks and financial institutions have become more prominent of late, but would not necessarily have been on the agenda some years ago.