European Union (Amendment) Bill

I have been listening to the Leader of the House and will take only two or three minutes. I want to express some sympathy with the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Williamson, but it would be nice if we could table amendments to the treaty itself. Unfortunately, our procedures do not allow us to do that and therefore we can only amend this short Bill. That is why those of us who want to make amendments have to say, ““Okay, you can have the treaty except this””. I agree that that is not a satisfactory way to proceed. I have just one question for the noble Baroness the Leader of the House. Up until now, replies to Written and Oral Questions have stated that about 70 per cent of our legislation emanates from Brussels. Will that figure increase—or perhaps even decrease—as a result of this treaty? Some of us believe that the European Union is doing far too much. If this treaty is to increase the percentage of legislation that comes from Europe, rather than decrease it or leave it as it is, one begins to wonder what on earth this Parliament is here for. Why do we need 649—I think that is the figure; it goes up and down—Members of the House of Commons and why do we need 750 people in this place if the European Union is responsible for at least starting the legislation and powers which we then have to enact?