European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I shall make my citation as quickly as possible. I was cut short last time at exactly the same point when the noble Baroness said, ““Stop when you get to Poland””. The source is in the sixth edition of Professor Hartley’s book on European Union law. It is a reference to a website with summarised translations of the Polish judgments, so you do not get the ipsissima verba and thankfully the judgments are in English. The principal reasons for the ruling they gave in a case where Danish parliamentary deputies challenged accession to the EU treaty were as follows: "““The communities in the European Union function in accordance with treaties establishing these organisations on the basis of, and within the limits of, the power conferred upon them by the member states. Consequently, the communities and their institutions may only operate within the scope envisaged by the provisions of the treaties””." I will not read any more, but it says the same thing about the Court of Justice. It can only operate within the limits, and the court in Poland can review it to see if the limits have been adhered to. My amendment directly supports the Government’s red lines. It is in accordance with views held about the law in other member states. I propose in subsections (3) and (4) of the amendment that we should handle the situation, if it ever arises, in an orderly manner and have the matter referred to an appropriate court. I suppose that that would be the Supreme Court in England and Wales, when it is up and running. I will not venture to say what it would be in Scotland; I see the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, who would no doubt know which would be the best court to handle it. I have not given Northern Ireland any consideration. However, there should simply be a procedure whereby the issue goes to the top court, and rules should be in place, as there are with judicial review, as a filter to chuck out bogus cases. I apologise for taking so long but this is an important issue which I have never heard debated in this House, although I may have missed something: what do you do if the limits of jurisprudence, the boundaries of the court, are transgressed? I beg to move.