European Affairs

I am sure that the whole House is impatient to see the Cabinet photograph for the first Administration of my hon. Friend the Member for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone). What was most striking about this debate—I am grateful to all Members from all parties who have taken part—was the degree of consensus that we saw emerging. It was perhaps unexpected, particularly for the Minister. We heard the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) remind us of the need to see the European Union as it is, and not through some kind of romantic haze as the institution that we might wish it to be. The hon. Member for Luton, North (Kelvin Hopkins) argued for the need to repatriate powers from a European to a national level. The hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) spoke of how powers had been steadily accumulated at a supranational level without the consent of the people being sought, let alone given. Far from my party being the one left marginalised or isolated, as the Minister charged, it was the Minister who found himself increasingly in that position as the debate continued. The only wholehearted, enthusiastic support for his speech came from the Potemkin opposition on the Liberal Democrat Benches. The truth is that the official Opposition see the European Union as an important means to advance the interests of the United Kingdom. It is in our national interest that the EU should work well, and that means that we want it to focus on those issues that matter most to the peoples of Europe and for it to function in a way that is much more accountable so that public support for membership can be genuine rather than grudging or resentful, as is too often the case, and not merely in the UK. As my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper), in particular, pointed out, that means we need the European Union to focus on the challenge of the global economy and the fact that Europe's relative position in the world economy is slipping backwards. If we are not careful, its absolute position in the world economy might also slip as new economic powers in Asia and Latin America gather strength.