European Union (Amendment) Bill

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: After Clause 6, insert the following new Clause— ““Position of the Monarch (1) Within six months of the coming into force of this Act, the Secretary of State shall lay a report before Parliament on the constitutional position of the Monarch in relation to Her people, Parliament and Ministers— (a) prior to ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, and (b) following ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. (2) Within one month of the laying of the report, a Minister of the Crown shall move a motion in each House of Parliament that the House approves the report. (3) In subsection (2), the reference to ““one month”” does not include any period of time in which the House in question is dissolved, prorogued or in recess for a period of more than four days.”” The noble Lord said: I apologise for the delay, my Lords, but I got locked out. I am sure that the whole of your Lordships’ House is united in the deep respect, gratitude and loyalty we bear to Her Majesty the Queen. I feel sure that we all approach the amendment with the greatest care. I am advised that it is in order for us to debate the monarch’s position as it may be affected by the Lisbon treaty, but we must not attempt to use the Queen’s name to influence a decision of the House; nor must we impute any views to the Queen herself, whom may God continue to bless and preserve. The relationship between the Crown and the British people has evolved over many centuries: Magna Carta; the civil war and the execution of Charles I; the restoration, the Bill of Rights and the Act of Union have all contributed to the constitutional monarchy that we enjoy today. The Bill of Rights of 1689 is often held up as the nearest thing we have to a written constitution. The Eurosceptic movement in this country often quotes one of its principal declarations, to condemn the project of the European Union. That declaration states: "““no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm””." Perhaps the best definition of the monarch’s position comes to us from Bagehot in 1687, in his work, The English Constitution—