European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, I hope that I have not been unfair either to the noble Lord or to the Conservative Party. I did not say that the Conservative Party objected to the Union; I said that it objected to the treaty. It seems to me that it has been thoroughly consistent and absolute in its attitudes in that regard. The simple matter that I would like to test is this. Adverting to the argument made by the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen, which he put forward with immense articulation, as one would expect, that the treaty is dead and is not resurrectable, I wonder whether in fact that is so. I have been told by eminent Chancery lawyers—I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, would agree with this, from his experience over the years—that, if you want to crack a trust or any other disposition of property, you can do so provided that two conditions obtain. The first is that the parties represent the totality of the beneficial interest and the second is that they are all sui generis and have full capacity to act in that regard. I appreciate that under the treaty of Lisbon it is necessary that there should be total unanimity. However, if a very short treaty was passed by all 27 members, accepting that the treaty of Lisbon should apply only to the 26—or to the 25 if the Czechs dissent—it seems that that would be entirely lawful. It would, of course, be necessary for there to be a referendum in Ireland or, possibly, in the Czech Republic on that account, but if that were so, that second treaty would have amended the treaty of Lisbon in a perfectly valid way. If I am wrong about that, I am glad to be told so. I put the question not only to the Leader of the House but to the noble Lord, Lord Howell, in the hope that there will be a unanimous verdict on the matter.