European Union (Amendment) Bill

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow that debate. I shall end in a sense by referring to the points made by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Wirral, to which the noble Lord, Lord Dykes, has just referred. I shall deal with the substance of the amendment first, so that I can put it on the record. If there were any amendments to the Lisbon treaty, they would have to be laid before Parliament. To answer the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, if we get to the point of having a new treaty, it would have to go all the way through your Lordships’ House and another place. I am very cautious, however, about pre-empting the discussions and debates that will go on, not only in the next two or three days but I believe for some months to come. I think that we are all agreed about allowing the Irish Government the space and time to consider and deliberate properly. Nor should we tie our own hands so completely as not to be able to have those discussions, albeit within the context of what would have to happen should that require a change in the law. I was keen to be invited to offer the 25th report in the course of our deliberations—that is, it is the 25th time that a report has been called for in an amendment. I was thrilled that we got to 25, because it is a nice, round number in many ways.