European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I have always admired the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, particularly when he was in the other place as a Minister. I encountered him over a difficult educational question in Brixton. I came across somebody who was interested in informing people because he believed that knowledge and information brought power. Having said that, I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, is right to do things in this way. I associate my words with those of the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, who said that this is not the best way. In an earlier debate on Amendments Nos. 29 to 31, the whole question of trust was seen as a Trojan horse—you are breaking trust because it was in the manifesto. If our Prime Minister has broken trust, how can you persuade the public, as in paragraph (d) of the amendment, which states that, "““a letter from the Prime Minister is set out with every leaflet””.?" If trust has already been broken, how does that square up? It does not. There is a sense that you have had your argument and defeated the very reasons that you are advancing. I said to myself, why is the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, who is the most reasonable person I have ever encountered, using this tactic? He wants to explain why the referendum is not necessary. That is not information: it is regurgitating what we have heard. There is an unfortunate phrase; the dog has returned to its vomit. Why should we go back there? The noble Lord, Lord Hunt, has my respect and what he suggests is utter common sense. If Parliament is to inform the public, it needs to do something like this, but we do not need it on the face of the Bill. That is not the way to do it, so I will be one of those who says that I hope Hansard reports correctly what the noble Lord is after. Let us do that. Let us do it from our primary schools, secondary schools and have everywhere in the community engaging with everyone, if I understand how the whole new world we are living in is turning out. We should then deal with it, support it and encourage it, but we do not need it on the face of the Bill. I would rather the Bill stayed as it is, without any more additions because it is clear. I hope that those who follow after us will say that there was one gentleman who spoke a lot of common sense, but common sense does not always need to be included in legislation. For those reasons, I for one say, ““We have heard you, Sir. We do not need to go any further””. Thank you.