European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, this has been an interesting and helpful debate. I would say to the Minister that when I suggested that the Government should publish an explanatory leaflet on the Lisbon treaty, she sent me the leaflet that I have in my hand. I was criticised by the noble Lord, Lord Jay, for saying that it explained the Lisbon treaty. He said, ““No, it’s a guide to the European Union””. It has been sent to me by the noble Baroness to demonstrate that information has been published about the Lisbon treaty. We have to decide which is which. An explanation of the treaty of Lisbon is very much a part of this leaflet, but the noble Lord is quite right that it contains a lot of information that is nothing to do with the Lisbon treaty. We do not have a leaflet that explains the treaty of Lisbon. My point was that we ought to have one. I say to the most reverend Primate that I do not think anyone has ever been as complimentary about me as he was tonight. I much appreciate that, because I have enormous respect for him and the courage that he shows in giving his views. He is a prime example of someone who I look up to in the whole area of communicating with people. I would also say to him that someone has to explain the Government’s position on not having a referendum because, according to the latest poll, 64 per cent of the public believe that there should be a referendum. That could be ignored, but by ignoring the issue, it festers and inhibits the positive case that can be put forward for making sure that Britain is right at the heart of Europe, which is what I have always believed. We have to begin to tackle these problems of people believing, as we said in the previous debate, that there was a bargain between all the main political parties and the British people that they would have a referendum. Therefore, it is important to say that there has to be some explanation in simple and easy-to-understand terms why we will not get the opportunity that the Republic of Ireland will have tomorrow. The noble Baroness has not referred to what happens if Ireland votes no. That is the great unknown, or the known unknown. If the Republic of Ireland votes no, what happens? Do we go on regardless? Do we still have Third Reading; or do we do what the Conservative Government did over the treaty of Maastricht, which was to suspend parliamentary scrutiny for a considerable period until the heads of state had met and discovered what would happen next. All those are questions that we should be addressing.