European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Taylor, is absolutely fair in the way that he presents it. In my critical view of Opposition Members, I was thinking more of the noble Lord, Lord Forsyth—having made his quick intervention to score a cheap party political point, I notice that he is no longer with us—who asked about what reform had taken place. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, agrees with what I say and I agree with what he says: the process of reform is well under way. It has not got to where it needs to be, and we must ensure through our parliamentary pressure and financial constraint that the process of reform continues. In conclusion, part of that process will also come from the financial changes that will be made following the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, when we see the abolition of the distinction between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure in the European budget. This will mean that when the European Parliament—with its members fighting for their priorities within a capped budget, as they will be—will be standing agricultural expenditure up to examination through comparison with their more favoured projects on environmental, social, regional, and common and foreign security policy. The European Parliament will be fighting for those areas. With the abolition of the distinction between compulsory and non-compulsory expenditure, I hope that we can look forward to the European Parliament becoming a bastion in the fight for the continuation of change in the common agricultural policy.