European Parliament (House of Lords Disqualification) Regulations 2008

rose to move that an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that the regulations, laid before the House on 24 June, be annulled (SI 2008/1647). The noble Lord said: My Lords, I am not an ardent Euroenthusiast, but nor am I an extreme Eurosceptic. I am not in favour of a United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union, for example, and I could perhaps be persuaded to look again at the single European currency, although I confess that I think that many European institutions, especially the Commission, need reform. However, those are matters for another day. I mention them only to make it clear that my Motion tonight is not a ritual exercise in Eurobashing. I have a number of questions about the regulations to which my Prayer refers, which I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Bach, will be able to reply to in due course. I am grateful to him for coming to the Dispatch Box this evening; incidentally, I warmly congratulate him on his new appointment. The purpose of the regulations is to disallow life Peers in your Lordships’ House from sitting or voting if they become Members of the European Parliament. They apparently emanate from a decision of the European Council of Ministers, and we are obliged to pass them into law—an obligation that we long ago accepted, wisely or not. However, since when was an assembly or parliament in another state entitled to say who should be Members of your Lordships’ House? I suppose that it is open to the European Parliament to receive a Member of your Lordships’ House but, to put it the other way around, to interfere with our national selection of who should be Member of this House seems an altogether different matter. They can say who they want in their parliament, and surely we should say who we want in ours. The Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee has been unusually scathing about these regulations. Your Lordships will have seen its report, which says: "““Under these Regulations, MEPs will join aliens, bankrupts, those under 21 and those convicted of treason as the groups disqualified for membership of the House””." It goes on to say that, in a little while, judges will apparently be disqualified for some other reason. What a very distinguished group that will be. One of the idiosyncrasies of the regulations, referring as they do to life Members of your Lordships’ House, is the exclusion of hereditary Members. It would seem that, while all the life Peers in this House will, when the regulations come into force, not be able to sit in this House if they become Members of the European Parliament, I and the rest of the hereditary Peers will not be so excluded. Incidentally, nor will the Bishops; how many Bishops are planning to stand for the European Parliament, I could not say, but they will not be excluded from doing so if they so choose. I do not necessarily disagree with the proposition that membership of two assemblies or parliaments is not a particularly good thing. However, that is surely a matter for the candidates who seek such election and, above all, those who are asked to elect them, or otherwise, when they come before the electorate. Membership of the House of Lords with Membership of the European Parliament is perhaps a difficult juggling act. I know that there are currently at least two or three Members of your Lordships’ House who are also Members of the European Parliament; I can see one or two of them around me as I speak. I offer no view as to whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. It is a matter for the noble Lord or noble Baroness concerned and those by whom they seek to be elected. I end with two questions. First, on hereditary Peers, am I right in thinking from my reading of the regulations that hereditary Peers are indeed not treated in the same way as life Peers?. If that is the case, why not? Secondly, the recent appointment of the noble Baroness, Lady Ashton of Upholland, as a commissioner has been widely applauded; not least, if I may so, by me. However, under present arrangements, will she remain an active Member of the House, or will she take leave of absence? There is one—