European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to be the third Liberal Democrat to speak at this debate. I begin by saying very directly that I find the words of the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, for whom I have very considerable respect, offensive to an extraordinary degree. The Liberal Democrats, ever since 1981, when we were formed as an alliance and then became a merged party in 1987, have been consistently in favour of this country’s full membership of the European Union and of many of the ways in which we believe that we can confront the dreadful issues that now face us in the world. We have been the most consistent of the three major parties in this country, in that regard. Let me go back historically for a moment. The Conservatives, under Mr Edward Heath, were the leading voices in favour of the European Union. Very shortly afterwards, they entered into some of the most far-reaching understandings, which carried this country into a considerable level of integration on the economic front under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher. They continued in that same guise until the time of the premiership of Mr John Major—a deeply divided premiership, in which the Conservative Party began the process of reaching fission on the issue of the European Union. Then, finally, in opposition, they have come out increasingly against the Lisbon treaty and, for that matter, moves towards greater integration in other areas of policy, such as climate change. This has not been the story of a consistent party. The Labour Party, in the days when I still belonged to it, was very much in favour of the European Union after the 1975 referendum. I shall have a word or two to say about that in a moment. By 1980 it had already changed its policy through 180 degrees, and decided that it wanted to leave the European Economic Community, as it then was. In 1981 it confirmed this at that year’s conference, deciding that it was committed to leaving. It stuck by that decision in the 1983 manifesto. Since that time it has been, first, indecisive, and then, in 1997 under the leadership of Tony Blair, enthusiastically supportive of the European Union. It is, again, a picture that has been very much coloured by what were seen to be the political advantages or disadvantages, in which the European Union itself played a secondary role to electoral and partisan considerations. I must reject what I regard as the rather cheap crack to the effect that, in some ways, the Liberal Democrats do not know where they are. On any proper reading of the last 25 years, they have known exactly where they are. I turn from that to the noble Baroness, Lady Symons of Vernham Dean, who said, with her usual cogency, something important that has not played a prominent part in this debate. In subsuming all existing treaties, the changes that would have been made under the constitutional treaty proposal were more far-reaching than those in the treaty of Lisbon. Indeed, it would simply have prevented a whole set of parliamentary debates on earlier treaties, such as those of Nice and Maastricht, and even going back to the treaty of Amsterdam. She is absolutely right about that. It was a very far-reaching change in the category of legislation, which brought it within a different sphere from that of the treaty of Lisbon. I will not go into detail, although there are some interesting details. For example, in evidence given to the European Union Committee, Professor Dashwood specifically proposed that, under the treaty of Lisbon, the CFSP was defended and treated according to separate rules and understandings from those that would have been the case under the constitutional treaty. That was accepted by the European Union Committee. There are other examples, particularly in the field of foreign affairs, where one can point to a considerable distinction. I return to an earlier point for a moment. The noble Lord, Lord Owen, took us back to the 1975 referendum. In doing so, he was right to distinguish between what was probably the single most fateful debate that this country has had since the Second World War on where its future lies, and the many other treaty changes with respect to the European Economic Community and the European Union. It is an issue of such majesty that I believe there is a case for a referendum. At that time, I disagreed with my colleagues, Lord Jenkins and the noble Lord, Lord Thomson of Monifieth, when they resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in opposition to the referendum. I thought that in rare, exceptional cases, where the whole future of a country was being decided, there was a case for a referendum. It is absolutely crucial, in the interests of Parliament and parliamentary sovereignty, that the distinction is clearly made. Those who are pressing for a referendum on the Lisbon treaty are blurring a crucial line. Let us ask why. If referenda—although there are some cases for them—are to be truly representative of the attitudes of the people, they must be governed by rules and conventions that hold. The 1975 referendum was closely bound by such rules. Both sides—and both sides crossed party lines—got together to decide that every single household should receive a statement from each side and a statement by the Government. I repeat: both sides were cross-party. Money was spent on enabling the people to understand the issues at stake. Compare that to today. The British people have been deprived—I have to say this—by the previous Government of virtually any serious attempt to let them know exactly what is going on in the European Union. The difference is like that between night and day. There has been virtually no attempt by the Government, under Mr Blair, to rebut some of the wildest charges made against the European Union, There has been no attempt to correct the record, even where the issues are purely factual. For years, we have all read rubbish about the behaviour of the European Union. No attempt has been made to correct it. To hold a referendum for politically opportunistic reasons, against the background of a country deprived of information by its own Government, is a very different proposition from that of 1975, when people were fully informed. Some will remember the famous, long-ago remark of the great Minister for Health, Aneurin Bevan, who said that you do not need to look into the crystal if you can read the book. The book is being unfolded right now, across the St George’s Channel. What does that book tell us? The main reason given by Irish voters for voting no, according to Irish opinion polls, is: "““We do not understand what this referendum is about””." That is a perfectly good reason, but as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Howe, has said, how many British voters would be able to say what this particular referendum would be about, not because they are stupid, but because nobody has given them clear information? It is not about one thing—