European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Lord is not going to agree with me on this, but he is right to say that you would have powers returned by unanimity, except in some areas of shared conpetence where, if the EU does not act, qualified majority voting might apply. As we move forward with the European Union of 27 member states, and begin to think about how it is going to operate in the future, one of the interesting points in the treaty is the recognition—whether or not it has been recognised before—that powers could be returned if that were most appropriate. I should have thought that the noble Lord would welcome that.