European Affairs

The Foreign Secretary must be fair if he is going to quote selectively from my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr. Clarke). The Foreign Secretary quoted correctly, but my right hon. and learned Friend went on to say that what the Conservative party is pledged to do is seek the repatriation of certain powers, quite apart from the Lisbon treaty, and that discussions—hopefully, negotiations—would have to take place with the European Union. If the Foreign Secretary wishes to play politics on this issue, it is no benefit to the debate to misrepresent what my right hon. and learned Friend said.