European Affairs

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Goodwill), who is one of the few people who understands how the European Parliament works. He is quite right about those committees. At one stage, about six years ago, I thought that we were at a point at which the Committee of the Regions had been abolished and had fallen off the table but, like everything else, it just crept back in again. I am very sorry that the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague) is not here today. Last time we had a debate on the European Council I offered him a wager that the Conservative party would not have left the EPP group by the time of the next debate. I am happy to say that I was wrong, but in time, he will probably realise that he was wrong to have done that. I know that we have talked a lot today about the Lisbon treaty and everything associated with it—perhaps this will be the last time that we talk about it—but we do need to consider a project that has taken eight years of gestation to come to fruition. Looking at the result, I would not recommend eight years of gestation. Another thing that strikes me, looking at the list of Commissioners, is that I recognise names like Karel De Gucht. These people were around during the Convention on the Future of Europe. The address book of the European Union is extraordinarily small. We are talking about 350 million people, but that political elite recycles itself. I include Commissioner Barnier in that, because he was a representative of the Commission at the time of the Convention. I remember him, on one occasion, defending most persuasively the idea that the provisions for subsidising the French film industry had to remain by unanimity because they were good for France and therefore good for Europe. In my discussions with him, I have not seen him to be the greatest liberal free trader—but I hope that the leopard has changed his spots. As I listened to the debate I wondered how the Opposition would have reacted if Britain had got Mr. Barnier's job and a French person had got the High Representative job. I am sure that some would have said that it was a great triumph for the French to have the foreign portfolio. It always strikes me that we all peddle the national xenophobia and stereotypes with such great joy. In particular, the entire speech by the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr. Evans) was permeated by the extraordinary realisation that Europe is full of foreigners, and he does not recognise them. They probably feel the same about him. Let us move on from that, and talk about the important things. One of those important things is the disgraceful situation with regard to the referendum. It was promised by all three parties, but I would say that all three parties reneged on their promise in different ways. Labour pretended that it was a different document, and the Lib Dems changed the question; they had to, otherwise the noble Lords would have revolted, so it became a question of whether to be in or out. The Opposition were very clever, particularly the right hon. Member for Richmond, Yorks. He made us laugh during those Lisbon debates. He was so funny that I even purchased a copy of his speech on Second Reading. It was worth it. The question is, why did the right hon. Gentleman make us laugh? He made us laugh to cover the fact that there was no real opposition from the Opposition— [Hon. Members: "Oh!"] Indeed not. They agreed to the programme motions, although they could have negotiated a different debate. There was no serious attempt to do so, because in the hope of winning the next election, the last thing that the right hon. Member for Witney (Mr. Cameron) wanted to have on his hands was a European referendum, and for the question of Europe to be reopened. That brings me to the Leader of the Opposition's other promise about a referendum when powers are transferred in future. I have really bad news for him: what further powers does he think will be transferred on which he can have a referendum? Such cases will either already have been moved to qualified majority voting or will be subject to the passerelle clause. By the way, his suggestion is that a passerelle clause will be subject to the full parliamentary process. So there is no change then, is there? Hon. Members should remember that in our parliamentary system Governments have the majority—that is why they are the Government—so they can always whip through votes. A Government that went to Brussels and agreed on the passerelle vote but thought that they might lose the vote here would be a pretty ropy Government, so that point is meaningless. As for a sovereignty Act, I think a sufficient number of people have already said what nonsense that idea is, because it implies that we do not already have sovereignty. What if there were not a Conservative Government next time around, or if a successor Government repealed the Act? Would that imply that we no longer had sovereignty? If that is not so, what would be the point of it?