European Union (Amendment) Bill

moved Amendment No. 16: 16: Clause 6, page 2, line 39, leave out from ““Crown”” to end of line 41 and insert ““shall vote against or otherwise reject a decision under any of the following unless Parliamentary approval has been given by Act of Parliament—”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I used to think sometimes, especially late at night—having attended, over the years, hundreds, if not thousands, of meetings concerned with European affairs—that the stronger pro-integrationist, European federalist case would eventually sink itself in its own verbosity. I have to say that after the past half an hour or so, I feel that the anti-European case might also sink itself in its own verbosity. I hope that we can now focus on a particularly important issue, although it is a late hour. It is a matter that we covered to some extent in rather a hurried way in Committee, but it is one to which we should now turn maximum attention because some very important issues are at stake. The issue is how our Parliament is to deal with and to address matters of treaty changes that come through the passerelle arrangements. We know that there are passerelle arrangements in past treaties and that in this treaty there are some that require the approval of Parliament. But there are also the new provisions which do not require the approval of Parliament, so treaty changes can be made without that. The Government have met that by suggesting there should be debates in and the approval of both Houses before such treaty changes are validated. We have said that that is not enough. This amendment was moved in the other place, not I think by a Member of our Front Bench, but by a Back-Bencher, and it was heavily supported by other parties, including the Liberal Democrats, whose leader, deputy leader and Chief Whip voted for it, and many others as well. So I live in hope—I shall probably be frustrated—that we might get a little support for the amendment, although it is a late hour. It is important to emphasise that we are dealing with matters which can—they do not necessarily always— involve the transfers of powers away from national Parliaments and changes in the treaty. During our debate, a number of strange, slightly mysterious aspects arose. The noble Baroness spoke at considerable length and in great detail about how these kinds of changes should be handled. She said: "““I argue that what matters is that Parliament has appropriate and proper debate, but I do not believe that that is always possible within an Act of Parliament””.—[Official Report, 19/5/08; col. 1341.]" That was her view, which—obviously—is not ours. Then we got on to a discussion of which, frankly, I do not understand every word. I hope that the noble Baroness will be able to explain it more fully. She said: "““More importantly, the conventions that would normally apply to secondary legislation, statutory instruments, and the votes and debates with which noble Lords concern themselves in relation to primary legislation—traditions and conventions that we might not vote against something—do not apply in this context. In the words of the parliamentary counsel whom I consulted this morning, this is a new power. It is different””.—[Official Report, 19/5/08; col. 1342.]" We have to ask what that new power is. When we talk about powers, we usually talk about Acts of Parliament to validate and give credence to them. Can we please be more clear about this new power to be given to your Lordships’ House? The difficulty here is that our amendment is not specifically about your Lordships' House. It is about Parliament and the role of both Houses, including the other place, in addressing these possible changes in the treaty. Although it is very interesting to hear the noble Baroness’s views about how things might change in your Lordships' House, that is not the main issue. It is how Parliament handles these matters. There seems to be some confusion in all this. The former Home Secretary, now the Minister of Justice, said in very graphic terms—admittedly a few years ago—that he was nervous of all these possible passerelle changes because, "““late at night at an ordinary European Council, a decision on one other country’s milk quotas is traded for a concession on moving from unanimity to QMV ... that is not acceptable””." He spotted that there was deep concern here and that that kind of arrangement was simply not acceptable. When I reread what the noble Baroness had said, there seemed to be some confusion. On the one hand are the normal rules, regulations, directives and other instruments flowing from, or originating in, the EU institutions. We seek, on the whole, to handle these through filtering in the committees of the other place and the distinguished committees of your Lordships’ House. That process has maybe been improved, and overlaps with scrutiny, and so on. That is one story. On the other hand are the changes in the treaty. These are changes to the powers of our Parliament. These are important matters, which could arise through the passerelle provisions. I do not think anyone denies that. This is what the passerelle provisions could do. Admittedly, in the earlier treaties, they could only do so with the approval of Parliament, but in this treaty and the constitutional treaty—and the provisions here are identical with those in the constitutional treaty—they could do so without the approval of Parliament. The noble Baroness spoke about her plans for filtering through the committees of this Parliament and giving them ““new powers””. I am not sure how these ideas would apply in the other place. None of these new powers can possibly substitute for the basic requirement, which is a proper Act of Parliament before the treaty is altered in ways which transfer or reduce the powers of Parliament. I hope we can focus on that, and possibly hear more about the new powers—which the noble Baroness has discussed, or is discussing, or plans to develop—for filtering various matters through the committees of this House and improving scrutiny procedures. That is very interesting, but not the main point. We have never faced this situation before. Now that we do so, we must build in the proper safeguards, which are powers in Acts of Parliament to ensure that future changes are also by Act of Parliament. There is no short cut or bypass to obviate this fundamental need. Those who want to see effective parliamentary scrutiny and, more than that, want to see treaty changes go through proper parliamentary procedure, ought really to be sympathetic to this amendment, as were the Liberal Democrats and my own party in the other place. That is the requirement that we now face. This debate may flow over into further debates in the handling of this Bill, but here, tonight, this is about the need for Acts of Parliament. Mere approval of both Houses and affirmative votes in both Houses may not be enough. We have heard from the former Home Secretary Mr Jack Straw that these things can happen ““late at night””. That is what he said. He is right and I support his apprehension about what could have happened under the previous constitution treaty, and which could also happen under this identical treaty before us. I beg to move.