European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Baroness has spoken to a number of us to ask us to keep our speeches as short as we possibly can. That is exactly what I intend to do, but I want to support the amendments. They are important and they should be properly discussed and replied to. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Maclennan, once again that he makes a big mistake in accusing those of us who believe that we should not belong to the European Union of being anti-European. That is a serious charge that I refute absolutely. I am not anti-European, but I do not want to be governed by the system imposed on us by the European Union. I hope that he will not again accuse people like me of being anti-European. As the noble Lord, Lord Howell, pointed out, there seems to be a complete difference between what our Government believe a single personality means and what other people think it means. There is no question but that Romano Prodi jumped with joy when he saw the article appearing in the constitution, now transferred to the Lisbon treaty. He said that this is a gigantic step forward. Where a chap like Prodi speaks like that, we must take some notice of him. When he is supported in that view by the French during the referendum and then when you listen to people in this House, we are entitled to ask what the position of Her Majesty’s Government really is. Did they oppose it in the first place? Have they opposed it at any stage? Did they oppose it during discussions on the constitution? Did they oppose it during discussions on the treaty? Perhaps they are not going to defend it and I hope that they will not. .But if they are going to defend it, why on earth are they going to defend this article being in the treaty when they were previously against it and other people think that it is going to take the business and the policy of integration forward by a great step?