UK Parliament / Open data

European Affairs

Debate on Thursday, 3 December 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Chris Bryant. The answering member was Mark Francois.
Debate on a motion that this House has considered the matter of European affairs.
Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
501 c1297-390 
Session
2009-10
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 501 c1329 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before I call the next hon. Member, I say to the House that Mr. Speaker has put a 15-minute l...
David Lidington | 501 c1385-6 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the whole House is impatient to see the Cabinet photograph for the first Administrati...

Show all contributions (253)
Peter Bone | 501 c1385 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more with my hon. Friend, especially with his last remark—that the European Union ...
David Lidington | 501 c1386-7 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will have to forgive me; I will not give way, as the time is very short. We also wan...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1388-9 (Link to this contribution) With permission, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I should like to respond to the debate. I had hoped to be able ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1389 (Link to this contribution) It did not feel like he was saying it inside. It was couched in so much irony—
Chris Bryant | 501 c1389 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend does not mind, I will not give way to him, unless it is to compliment me—[Interrup...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1389 (Link to this contribution) I said that it was a shame that such great ability and eloquence were not deployed in a better cause...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1389-90 (Link to this contribution) As I said, my hon. Friend's opinion was so couched in irony and sarcasm that it somehow ended up sou...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1365-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Mr. Goodwill), who is one of ...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1361-4 (Link to this contribution) Even the Liberal Democrats—dare I say it?— occasionally come up with good ideas. I know that that is...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1366-7 (Link to this contribution) I thought that the hon. Gentleman would take that view, but I disagree with him. Sovereignty to me i...
William Cash | 501 c1366 (Link to this contribution) The problem that the hon. Lady is missing is the competition for sovereignty between the primacy of ...
William Cash | 501 c1369-70 (Link to this contribution) I am extremely glad to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart), although I do n...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1368-9 (Link to this contribution) I think that it is extremely difficult. A couple of weeks there was a programme on Radio 4 called "A...
Peter Bone | 501 c1367 (Link to this contribution) As usual, the hon. Lady is making a very powerful speech on Europe. Can she tell us what the solutio...
William Cash | 501 c1370-1 (Link to this contribution) That may be true, but the problem is about political will and the opportunity that people have to ex...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1370 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman, but I am sure that he is aware that there is growing scepticism thr...
William Cash | 501 c1371-3 (Link to this contribution) That is not so, I am afraid. I shall not spend the rest of my speech explaining why, although I will...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1371 (Link to this contribution) On the question of competences and sovereignty, does the hon. Gentleman not agree that the Lisbon tr...
Mark Francois | 501 c1373-4 (Link to this contribution) On that point, we all want a deal at Copenhagen. In my speech earlier, I said in reference to a deb...
David Drew | 501 c1373 (Link to this contribution) As always, it is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash). I did not vote in favour...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1374 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. We had a mini-referendum on the referendum in Luton, which was...
David Drew | 501 c1374 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased that the hon. Gentleman has corrected the record. I do not quite know how people can ab...
Lord Horam | 501 c1375 (Link to this contribution) As a matter of elucidation, is the hon. Gentleman in favour of referendums in principle—on Europe as...
David Drew | 501 c1374-5 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to hear that. I ran a constitutional change survey in my constituency called "Up for de...
David Drew | 501 c1376-7 (Link to this contribution) I could not be so cynical. Points of view change as parties change, and I just hope that the argumen...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1376 (Link to this contribution) I sounded an optimistic note in my speech. Does my hon. Friend agree that if the Government were to ...
David Drew | 501 c1375-6 (Link to this contribution) I do know of that, but I would trace the problem back even further. Martin Wiener and Correlli Barne...
William Cash | 501 c1375 (Link to this contribution) Just for the record, has the hon. Gentleman come across the extremely important work in which Roland...
David Drew | 501 c1375 (Link to this contribution) I want a referendum because I want a fundamentally different Europe. The EU has evolved completely b...
Barry Sheerman | 501 c1383 (Link to this contribution) As all this slicing is going on, how does the hon. Gentleman slice the opinions of the right hon. an...
Peter Bone | 501 c1381-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper), who yet ...
Mark Harper | 501 c1379-81 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good point. If the British people knew more about how the European Commission...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1379 (Link to this contribution) On my hon. Friend's point about how much Commissioners and those in the new positions earn, does he ...
Mark Harper | 501 c1377-9 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a brief contribution. I would like to draw the Minister's attention to my earlier qu...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1383 (Link to this contribution) We are the largest net contributor to the European Union. Does my hon. Friend agree that he who pays...
Peter Bone | 501 c1383 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was watching it on television, was he? That's all right then. One of the great t...
Jo Swinson | 501 c1384 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Peter Bone | 501 c1383-4 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising that issue, and I shall address it later. For now, howev...
Barry Sheerman | 501 c1383 (Link to this contribution) I was watching the debate on television.
Jo Swinson | 501 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I am listening with great interest to what the hon. Gentleman is saying. He is slightly contradictin...
Peter Bone | 501 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to let the hon. Lady have a word.
William Cash | 501 c1384 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that according to the papers recently supplied to the European Scrutiny Comm...
Peter Bone | 501 c1384 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that the hon. Lady was not here earlier, because some of these points were made by earlie...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1339-40 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to confirm that, although I think that all the Commissioners whom we have sent to the Eur...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1341 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend talks of all the countries moving together. Is not the problem in the European ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1341 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is a frequent visitor to debates on these issues. I think he has participated in almo...
Peter Bone | 501 c1341 (Link to this contribution) As usual, the right hon. Gentleman is making a powerful speech. I should like to know why he thinks ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1341-3 (Link to this contribution) I could be flippant and say that they knew about the success of our country after 12 years of a Labo...
Malcolm Moss | 501 c1343-4 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), who served ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1344 (Link to this contribution) I have suggested on many occasions that the European budget ought to be distributed according to nee...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1345 (Link to this contribution) To be added to that is the famous rebate that Margaret Thatcher wrestled from the European Union, wh...
Malcolm Moss | 501 c1344-5 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful for confirmation from the hon. Gentleman that we are moving in the right directio...
Malcolm Moss | 501 c1345 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend's logic is absolutely correct in that regard. It would of course be i...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1347-8 (Link to this contribution) I rise to participate in this debate with a certain amount of regret, as it will almost certainly be...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1345 (Link to this contribution) The term "milch cow" is appropriate, because the distorting factor in all this is the common agricul...
Malcolm Moss | 501 c1346-7 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree. However, on a recent Foreign Affairs Committee visit to Paris, Committee members...
Mark Harper | 501 c1348 (Link to this contribution) I know that it was only a joke, but there is a serious side to what the hon. Gentleman has said abou...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1348-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that interjection, because clearly Baroness Ashton deserves the money...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1349-50 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not listening to another account of the incomes of European Commissioners. We have the for...
Mark Harper | 501 c1349 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Nigel Evans | 501 c1351-3 (Link to this contribution) It is a joy to follow the hon. Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell), who speaks much common sense...
Mark Harper | 501 c1353 (Link to this contribution) It is actually worse than my hon. Friend says, because Commissioner Michel Barnier is responsible no...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1353-4 (Link to this contribution) Of course I agree. I shall come on to the non-job and the non-entity filling it, who is Cathy Ashton...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1354 (Link to this contribution) This an extremely serious matter, and we should recognise that our troops fight with the Danes and E...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1350-1 (Link to this contribution) I do not mean the previous Prime Minister, who wanted us to go in, but our current Prime Minister, w...
David Drew | 501 c1351 (Link to this contribution) Can my hon. Friend remember colleagues of ours who said that ownership did not matter? The reality h...
Austin Mitchell | 501 c1351 (Link to this contribution) I agree absolutely: that is what has happened, and it makes things more difficult to rebuild. Howeve...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1354-5 (Link to this contribution) This is a vital subject, and I am not having fun with it at all. The important point is not just the...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1360-1 (Link to this contribution) There has been a lot of debate this afternoon about influence and securing positions, and we have di...
Peter Bone | 501 c1361 (Link to this contribution) I hate to disagree with my hon. Friend, but throughout the debate one Liberal Democrat, at best, has...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1359 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that while so much of our money is going in to support European agricu...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1359-60 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, the whole thing is a bureaucratic nightmare. All those organisations and structures are alwa...
Mark Harper | 501 c1358 (Link to this contribution) I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman, and most of what he says makes sense. One of the poi...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1358-9 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Growth is at the heart of it all. As my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby pointed out...
Peter Bone | 501 c1357 (Link to this contribution) As usual, the hon. Gentleman is making a sensible speech—[Interruption.] He is making a sensible spe...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1355-7 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) on a splendid speech, and ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) Why is the Conservative party afraid to have an all-singing, all-dancing referendum on whether we st...
Ed Davey | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) I give way to the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz).
Mark Harper | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) I was slightly amused by the hon. Gentleman talking about our being inconsistent and wanting to have...
Ed Davey | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) will answer that question.
Ed Davey | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) Well, there was no definition of "cast iron" in that, nor did it answer the question asked by the ri...
Mark Francois | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Ed Davey | 501 c1334-5 (Link to this contribution) I may give way later, if the hon. Gentleman will be patient. He did not allow me to intervene on him...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1335 (Link to this contribution) If a sovereignty Bill meant that the Government could strike down EU legislation, it would be profou...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1337 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman talks about serious crime, but is he not aware that in cases such as the one a co...
Ed Davey | 501 c1337 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is talking about an Act of Parliament, part of which was the EAW. If he reads the...
Mark Francois | 501 c1337 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that we have a number of concerns about how the EAW has operated in practic...
Ed Davey | 501 c1336 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to take the hon. Gentleman's intervention, but I hope that he has some answers to those q...
Ed Davey | 501 c1335-6 (Link to this contribution) The Minister makes a fair point. We would be subjugated to the rules of the European Union if the Co...
Mike Gapes | 501 c1339 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend also confirm that Baroness Ashton is not there because she is a woman? She...
Ed Davey | 501 c1337-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is right. I could give him three or four examples from different countries, such ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1338-9 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton (Mr. Davey) in a debate ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) I will take the next intervention.
Mark Harper | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know that I sat through the many days of debate in the House on the Lisbon treaty,...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1309 (Link to this contribution) We have to have a further round of talks next week. That is obviously one of the things that we have...
Ed Davey | 501 c1309 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is making a very important point. Is he saying that the British Government will push th...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1308-9 (Link to this contribution) Good, he is fatigued. Croatia has continued to make progress in her accession negotiations. We look...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1309 (Link to this contribution) It's the three musketeers. I shall take the interventions in the order in which the hon. Gentlemen a...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1308 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful; the Minister has been generous to all Members in giving way today. Is not the po...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1308 (Link to this contribution) I am reluctant to give way much more, but my right hon. Friend is very charming.
Chris Bryant | 501 c1308 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a very good point. In some areas of some of the countries that we are tal...
David Burrowes | 501 c1307 (Link to this contribution) I thank the Minister for giving way, and I share his support for Turkey's accession. Does that not b...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1307 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister share my disquiet at the fact that some prominent members from Germany of the Grou...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1307 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I was asked questions about this issue on Tuesday, and I kno...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1308 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend not accept that there has been a slight cooling of enthusiasm for enlargement in...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1307-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will probably have to look at the views of every member of the European Conservat...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1308 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to imply that it is inappropriate to set an arbitrary timetable that then ha...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1307 (Link to this contribution) The new President of the European Council has made it absolutely clear that he is not there to deter...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1306-7 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of Turkey, it has been suggested that one of the reasons why the Germans and the Fren...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1306 (Link to this contribution) It is unpronounceable, unspeakable and unfathomable—but let me move on. The Government believe that...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1306 (Link to this contribution) Well, as I say, sometimes the Conservative party's policy on Europe is unfathom—unspeakable.
Ed Davey | 501 c1306 (Link to this contribution) Given the interventions from the Conservative Benches, I should point out that the Conservatives in ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1306 (Link to this contribution) I wholeheartedly agree with what the hon. Gentleman is saying, and I am glad that he shares the Gove...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1305-6 (Link to this contribution) It is important for Britain to co-operate far more closely with our neighbours in the European Union...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1305 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fine point effectively. I have often tried to understand the Conservative...
Ed Davey | 501 c1305 (Link to this contribution) The Minister told the House a few minutes ago that the European arrest warrant has helped British cr...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1305 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that co-operation is the key to this. We need to ens...
Philip Hollobone | 501 c1304-5 (Link to this contribution) How can this country continue to allow into Britain illegal immigrants who make their way into the E...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1303-4 (Link to this contribution) No. I defer to nobody on the Conservative Benches on the protection we give and the efforts we make ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1305 (Link to this contribution) I know that the Minister is trying to be gentle with the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone), ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1305 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the hon. Gentleman acknowledges that we have to work closely with our European allies...
David Drew | 501 c1303 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister not acknowledge, however, the following somewhat contradictory position we find ou...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1302-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right and he makes his point very well, as ever. We are determined tha...
Andrew Murrison | 501 c1303 (Link to this contribution) One part of the compact to which the Minister refers is the European defence-technological industria...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1303 (Link to this contribution) I am not at all sure that my hon. Friend's characterisation of the labour markets across Europe is c...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1302 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend talked about three regulatory bodies, but I believe they are in fact three supervisor...
Speaker | 501 c1300 (Link to this contribution) Order. I must tell the hon. Member for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) that he has developed quite a bad...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1300 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman wants a private conversation later, Mr. Speaker, I am sure we can arrange a da...
Andrew Pelling | 501 c1299-300 (Link to this contribution) Would it not be to the advantage of the British nation and, indeed, the House, where the European is...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1300 (Link to this contribution) All that we have seen so far is that every time a Conservative Member stands up, he comes out with a...
Peter Bone | 501 c1300-1 (Link to this contribution) The Minister is making the case that Europe as a whole has benefited, but is not a key reason why we...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1301 (Link to this contribution) The Government's policy on the euro has not changed at all, as the hon. Gentleman knows. He says tha...
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1300 (Link to this contribution) The Minister talks about that stimulus as if it was a European stimulus. Was it not, in fact, an agg...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1300 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right that the sum I mentioned is the aggregate of all the different st...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1301 (Link to this contribution) When the Minister reads what he said in response to the question from my hon. Friend the Member for ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1301-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There are areas where we need to have co-operation between membe...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1298 (Link to this contribution) Given the point that the Minister made earlier, he might wish to consider the way in which the Spani...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1298 (Link to this contribution) I thought the hon. Gentleman would go on to congratulate the Conservative group on completely isolat...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1298-9 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to tell the Minister that I was a Member of the European Parliament for five years, and...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1299 (Link to this contribution) With all that knowledge, the hon. Gentleman should know better. He is aware that the European Conser...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1299 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Parker. If it does not matter that Commissioner Barnier is French, then it also clearly ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1299 (Link to this contribution) I think it is a triumph that the new High Representative is Cathy Ashton, because I know her to be a...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 501 c1299 (Link to this contribution) May I take the debate back to fundamentals? Tuesday marked the coming into force of the Lisbon treat...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1299 (Link to this contribution) To be honest, no, I do not think it should be about that. The reason is very simple. As I said at th...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1298 (Link to this contribution) I had no doubt that the hon. Gentleman had read it. May I ask him to wait a moment and calm down? Th...
Mark Harper | 501 c1297 (Link to this contribution) May I make a point about jobs and growth? Michel Barnier has been appointed as the single market Com...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1298 (Link to this contribution) No. I respect the financial services industry in the City as much, and take as much pride in it, as ...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1297 (Link to this contribution) May I take this opportunity to congratulate my hon. Friend on becoming Minister for Europe, a subjec...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1297 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend. I cannot remember whether he was number six or number seven—o...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1297 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of European affairs." Having spent eight y...
Mark Harper | 501 c1312 (Link to this contribution) The reason for my sedentary intervention was that I had listened very carefully to a point that the ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1312-3 (Link to this contribution) Much as I like the hon. Member for Forest of Dean, I do not think that he should sit there listening...
Mark Francois | 501 c1313-5 (Link to this contribution) I shall begin by dealing with a number of specific issues of European concern. First, Iran: one of t...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1312 (Link to this contribution) I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman. Liberal and Labour policies on the EAS have been the...
Ed Davey | 501 c1312 (Link to this contribution) I should have thought that hon. Members on both sides would have welcomed the fact that we have a Br...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1312 (Link to this contribution) It is interesting that virtually every member of the European Parliament whom I met last week and th...
Alistair Burt | 501 c1312 (Link to this contribution) That is not what the Prime Minister said.
Chris Bryant | 501 c1311 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid that I cannot enlighten the hon. Gentleman on that at the moment. As I said earlier, a d...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1311-2 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is wrong in one regard: the High Representative is already in post. She started on 1 ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1311 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend the Minister help me with my arithmetic? If the High Representative does not tak...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1310-1 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way to the hon. Gentleman again, if he does not mind. I have given way a considerab...
Andrew Murrison | 501 c1311 (Link to this contribution) A little while ago, the Conservatives asked the Minister or his predecessor what the composition of ...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether the hon. Members for Forest of Dean (Mr. Harper) and for Wellingborough (Mr. B...
Speaker | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I remind all right hon. and hon. Members that moderation in their use of language would b...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman might take a look in the mirror in relation to that last comment—but let me deal ...
Andrew Murrison | 501 c1310 (Link to this contribution) My question is somewhat different. I see that the Minister has come to the end of his polemic. Will ...
Mark Harper | 501 c1319 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend made the case about the way in which the Foreign Office has been isolated in Whitehal...
Mark Francois | 501 c1318 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to my hon. Friend, and then once more to the Chairman of the Select Committee, out o...
Mark Francois | 501 c1318-9 (Link to this contribution) Labour's denial of a referendum betrayed the British people—that is clear—but it is not unknown for ...
William Cash | 501 c1318 (Link to this contribution) In relation to the question that my hon. Friend just answered, has he considered what happened at th...
Mark Francois | 501 c1319 (Link to this contribution) I have been called Dastardly about three times in this debate.
Michael Connarty | 501 c1319 (Link to this contribution) I respect the hon. Gentleman, his diligence and the fact that he normally deals with matters of subs...
Mark Francois | 501 c1319 (Link to this contribution) It was Muttley. Anyway, the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty) can hardl...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1318 (Link to this contribution) I fear that the hon. Gentleman is coming across as a smaller and less tanned Simon Cowell from "The ...
Mark Francois | 501 c1318 (Link to this contribution) I will reply to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, who always takes a close interest i...
Mark Francois | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) I realise that the fact that we have two seats is established within the treaty base and would requi...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) Far be it from me to defend the European Parliament, but that is one of the few matters on which the...
Mark Francois | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. There is a tremendous environmental cost in moving from Brussels to Str...
Nigel Evans | 501 c1315 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that if Members of the European Parliament wish to contribute to preventin...
Mark Francois | 501 c1316-8 (Link to this contribution) Would that be the same Spain that is not a member of the G20? One immediate change brought about by...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) Or indeed the Spanish referendum.
Mark Francois | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) We should not forget the first Irish referendum either, if the hon. Gentleman is compiling a list.
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1316 (Link to this contribution) One hears the phrase about bringing Europe closer to its citizens across the whole European Union, y...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman saying that a Liberal Democrat Government would hold an in-out referendum, and...
Ed Davey | 501 c1333 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps the hon. Gentleman wants to try to help his leader.
Ed Davey | 501 c1332-3 (Link to this contribution) I do not think I am here to defend statements by the Prime Minister, and I am certainly not going to...
Mark Harper | 501 c1332 (Link to this contribution) Perhaps I could refer back to a point I raised earlier. To be fair, the hon. Gentleman has been very...
Ed Davey | 501 c1331-2 (Link to this contribution) The House will not be surprised to know that I do not know the full CV of the civil servant Jonathan...
Malcolm Moss | 501 c1331 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned Mr. Faull, who indeed has experience. He has worked for the Commission ...
Ed Davey | 501 c1334 (Link to this contribution) We would of course argue for a yes vote, and we are certain that we would win that. One of the reaso...
Mark Francois | 501 c1329-30 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned manifestos. I am sure that he will be aware that on Tuesday, a previous...
Ed Davey | 501 c1329 (Link to this contribution) First, I apologise to the House for the fact that I will not be here for the winding-up speeches. I...
Mark Francois | 501 c1330 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Ed Davey | 501 c1330 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, although he did not let me in when I want...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1328-9 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and I end by paying tribute to the Minister, who has told us in evidence that he has tried t...
Ed Davey | 501 c1330 (Link to this contribution) No, the hon. Gentleman can come in later when I deal with that issue. The Minister was right to tal...
Ed Davey | 501 c1330-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful. That is in strong contrast to the group in the European Parliament that the Conservat...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1330 (Link to this contribution) I just want to congratulate the hon. Gentleman and his group on securing so many Commissioners. Desp...
Mark Francois | 501 c1323 (Link to this contribution) It is, but it is not primary legislation; that is the difference—allow me to correct the Minister on...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1322 (Link to this contribution) I wanted to intervene on a previous issue. I was going to correct the hon. Gentleman again on the pa...
Mark Francois | 501 c1322 (Link to this contribution) The passerelles require unanimity, but as we argued when we debated the Lisbon treaty, passerelles s...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1322 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Francois | 501 c1322 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. The right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), in his memorable time as Minist...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1321 (Link to this contribution) I want to correct a mistake that I think the hon. Gentleman has made—probably because he was going o...
Mark Francois | 501 c1320-1 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for those comments—particularly the last one. I was kind enough to let the right hon. ...
Mark Francois | 501 c1320 (Link to this contribution) Okay, you've talked me into it. [Interruption.]
Speaker | 501 c1320 (Link to this contribution) Order. Could we please have this debate conducted properly? Let us leave all the characters out—wher...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1320 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful, Madam Deputy Speaker, and I shall leave out all the characters. The hon. Gentle...
Mark Francois | 501 c1320 (Link to this contribution) Here comes another one. If we wanted to hold a reunion of all the Labour Europe Ministers, we would ...
Mark Francois | 501 c1319-20 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very good point, and it will be interesting to see whether the Minister wants...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1327-8 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend—I regard him as a friend—has a very balanced view about these matters and many others...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1327 (Link to this contribution) That is a very sound request and I hope the Government have listened to it. I am not sure that that ...
Robert Goodwill | 501 c1327 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it might be more effective if Parliament got involved at an earli...
Chris Bryant | 501 c1328 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give an absolute assurance on that, but I shall refer in my winding-up speech to some of th...
Mark Francois | 501 c1324 (Link to this contribution) The point of a sovereignty Bill is to guarantee the ultimate sovereignty of Parliament. My hon. Frie...
Michael Connarty | 501 c1324-6 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to be called to speak in this debate. Unfortunately, when the financial regulations we...
Keith Vaz | 501 c1326-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for bringing a sober approach to the debate without references to "G...
Mark Francois | 501 c1324 (Link to this contribution) I shall make a bit of progress now; I have given way many times. We ought also to expect Labour sup...
Mark Francois | 501 c1323 (Link to this contribution) I have given way quite a few times, in fairness. I give way to my hon. Friend, who I believe may kno...
William Cash | 501 c1323-4 (Link to this contribution) The sovereignty Act that we are proposing also deals with the passerelle question. I do not want to ...
Mark Francois | 501 c1323 (Link to this contribution) I give way one more time to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee.
Michael Connarty | 501 c1323 (Link to this contribution) Unfortunately, there are no other Select Committee Chairmen here, but they could confirm that the Pr...
Mark Francois | 501 c1323 (Link to this contribution) I have not been in the House for as long as the hon. Gentleman, but I know the difference between wh...
Peter Bone | 501 c1383 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for popping in; I have not seen him for the last few hours.
Keith Vaz | 501 c1320 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Harper | 501 c1348 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Kelvin Hopkins | 501 c1357-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but no one seriously believes it. We are all in favour of mother and apple pie, but we do not a...
Mark Francois | 501 c1321-2 (Link to this contribution) If that point is correct, I accept it. Nevertheless, the principle still exists whereby we do not ha...
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