European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord may have misunderstood me. Many on his Benches want the next Conservative Government—if there is to be one—to promise that, if elected, they will renegotiate the Lisbon treaty. I remind the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, that this is exactly the position taken by Harold Wilson in 1973-74 with his referendum promise to cover up the divisions within his Labour Party, if and when it returned to government. But Harold Wilson, at the very least, had the sense to offer his party, and the public, a referendum on the underlying issue—do we stay in the European Community, as it then was, or leave it? The Conservatives are attempting to avoid that question by offering a referendum only on the treaty. The position of my party, as we have made entirely clear, is that if we are to have a referendum it should be on the underlying issue—do we stay in, or do we leave? The Conservative Party is unable to answer—