European Union (Amendment) Bill

Perhaps I can get a word in now. I tried to intervene on the dispute that arose about the way in which we handle this debate and this Bill. We have to do it this way because every single treaty since the 1972 European treaty is simply an amendment of that treaty. We have to do it this way because it is not the treaty that is before us to be ratified. If the Government did it that way, it would be perfectly in order to try to alter the treaty. Because of the method used by the Government to get the treaty through, we have to do it this way, which I agree is a bit convoluted. That should not prevent us discussing every item in the treaty, including the one that we are now discussing, which is the social and cohesion aspect. We were taken into the Common Market on the basis that we were joining a trading organisation. We now find that within that trading organisation, instead of competing with our competitors we have to subsidise them. That is what the European regionalisation policy means. Funds from this country, which could be used fully in this country, are instead used to subsidise other countries that may be thought to be poorer than ourselves.