European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Lord is absolutely right—of course we support the rule of law. However, there is another principle that we support. I refer to the principle of democratic accountability. What the noble Lord is not taking account of is that, if we have the European Court taking a view that promotes a wider Europe—or a deeper Europe or whatever expression one wants to use—and deciding, for example, that working time is a health and safety matter, it should be possible for democratically elected politicians in the countries affected to reverse that. Unfortunately, it has become more and more difficult to do that, particularly as the veto has been eroded in more areas of national life. I know that the noble Lord is committed to Europe—if not always to the manifesto promises on Europe that have been made by his party. However, if one has an institution that makes laws that people cannot change when they turn out to be bad laws, that institution will come into conflict and will undermine respect for the rule of law. I believe that it is part of supporting the rule of law to have institutions that are democratically accountable. My concern about this treaty, and the reason I support the amendment of my noble friend on the Front Bench, is that we may be walking into yet more areas where laws are changed in ways that do not carry consent, where Parliament is unable to intervene and voters feel frustrated. I thought that the speech made by the noble Lord gave some weight to that. Perhaps the Minister will explain how it will be different this time. On TUPE, on working time and on a range of other things, we gave assurances that turned out not to be correct. I supported the Single European Act when I was Parliamentary Private Secretary to my noble and learned friend Lord Howe of Aberavon. I had doubts about it then. People argued that it would not be used to extend the competence of the Community. We were given assurances that this would not be the case, that it was the letter of the law that would matter and not the general spirit. So we feel ““once bitten, twice shy””. I hope that the Minister, in railroading this legislation through the House, does not find that she, too, is bitten. I hope that she can give us assurances about that. I shall give way briefly.