European Union (Amendment) Bill

Since the noble Lord, Lord Lester, has referred to the Irish case, I would like to add a brief point about that. Ireland in fact had two referendums. The first referendum was on the approval or otherwise of the constitutional treaty and that was lost. The second referendum had two questions that were locked together. The first question was the same as had occurred in the first referendum; the second question was, ““Do you believe that Ireland should continue its traditional policy of neutrality?””. That explains why the second referendum was carried—you had to vote either for two proposals or none.