UK Parliament / Open data

European Union (Amendment) Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord; I will just answer that point. He is not quite right. Our purpose in moving the amendments is to make sure that we debate and put in front of the British public many of the wholly unacceptable aspects of our membership of the European Union, and this happens to be one of them. Nor is he entirely right to say that if we were to accept one of these very sensible amendments, which I think would be hugely popular with the British public, that that would be the end of the treaty; it would not be. They would simply have to convene another conference and agree it unanimously; it is as simple as that. If they do not, does not that confirm our opposition to the whole project and exercise and that the quicker we get out of it the better? Why should we be subjected to a regional policy where billions of pounds come to us under the direction of the organisation in Brussels that fails to get its accounts audited for 13 years on the trot? We then have to accept what it spends money on—I am talking about regional policy now—and then we have to put in an equal amount to what it puts in. That is madness economically, it is damaging to the country and the quicker we stop it the better. That is the point of the amendment.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
700 c1474 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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