European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill

My Lords, I support the amendment moved by my noble friend as a way to probe aspects of the Gover...

My Lords, I agree very much with my two noble friends, who have set out very well the purpose of ...

On the subject of giving away an option in advance, is my memory playing a trick on me in recalli...

The noble Lord is uncharacteristically inaccurate; he normally does his homework before interveni...

Could my noble friend refresh the House’s memory on what success the previous Prime Minister had ...

I think the previous Prime Minister was a completely incompetent negotiator. The way to make prog...

My Lords, I wonder whether the Labour Party could find room for others in this debate. Even if th...

My Lords, there are those who say that, since voting to leave the EU was the only question on the...

My Lords, I will make four very brief points. Will the Minister assure the House that this amendm...

My Lords, surely the problem with the EEA is that it is a waiting room for people who want to joi...

Perhaps I may be permitted to correct the noble Lord, who I know is an expert on these matters an...

I accept that but it was designed originally to be a waiting room for those who wanted to join an...

My Lords, in declaring an interest—which is really my only qualification for joining this short d...

One of the major difficulties that might stem from membership of the EEA is its implications for ...

My Lords, I think the Committee has heard quite enough from me so I will not speak on this other ...

My Lords, I thank noble Lords for the amendment concerning the European Economic Area, which seek...

My Lords, I wonder if the Minister will give way—

Not yet, no. While I understand the issues raised and agree with the desire to debate them in thi...

I wonder if the Minister can clarify—

I wonder if the noble Lord will allow me to make a little progress before he launches into the wa...

What is it that the Minister says? I am obliged to him for giving way. As this is the first time ...

Yes, of course. The noble Lord to whom the noble Lord refers is not in the House today.

It ...

Before the noble Lord sits down, there is one issue on this question which is very important to t...

My Lords, with respect to the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, I do not accept that we face a cliff edge—...

Will the Minister give me an answer to the question? It is a reasonable question on such a vital ...

With respect, the noble Lord’s question proceeds on a supposition that I do not accept.

4 p...

My Lords, on that last point, I would point out that the Government are very good at demolishing ...

Moved by

Lord Hain

2: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end insert—

“( ) Before a no...

My Lords, this amendment is also in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Alderdice and Lord Murphy ...

My Lords, I have always been a fervent European. It is an emotional thing as much as an intellect...

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord. His description of the difficulties that he ...

My Lords, when the Minister replies to this debate he has a choice. He can focus on the amendment...

My Lords, I declare two interests as the last surviving member of the Whitelaw commission which l...

My Lords, from our perspective here, Northern Ireland is the forgotten part of the UK. It rarely ...

My Lords, I shall speak in general support of the issues raised by this group. I have not put my ...

My Lords—

My Lords—

Chivalry is not dead.

Thank you. About 25 years ago, I was a member of the independent Opsahl Commission on the future ...

My Lords, I will raise a point that was not raised by the noble Lord, Lord Hain, but was very muc...

My Lords, I wish to associate myself with the amendment so ably and eloquently moved by my noble ...

Perhaps I might give my noble friend a practical example of what he has just said. The EU Energy ...

My Lords, I was coming to that, but may not put it as well as my noble friend did. It is understa...

My Lords, I will just make a short intervention. It is many years since I was happily debating, h...

My Lords, I hesitate to intervene on Irish matters but no one has spoken to Amendment 30, which i...

My Lords, I remember that at the time of the negotiations leading up to the agreement in Belfast,...

My Lords, I notice that the amendment has been signed by virtually a who’s who of people who have...

What a depressing afternoon this is. If we in this legislature were trying to get rid of barriers...

Oh!

I knew that some noble Lords on the other side would not like this but they are going to hear it....

My Lords, we should remember Sir John Major and Albert Reynolds and the fact that my noble friend...

The noble Lord is very welcome to correct me and if I have made a historical error I apologise, b...

The noble Lord certainly left out Henry VIII and many other things. The noble Lord, Lord Alderdic...

My Lords, I actually live in Northern Ireland and have lived there for the past nearly 50 years; ...

My Lords, on behalf of these Benches I shall speak very briefly in favour of Amendment 2. As has ...

My Lords, I want to comment briefly on one or two points. For example, the noble Lord, Lord Davie...

My Lords, this has been a fascinating debate lasting almost two hours. I am making a guest appear...

My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, to the Front Bench. He played a hugely important...

My Lords, I think that brevity is called for so I will briefly respond to clarify the point made ...

Moved by

Lord Newby

3: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end insert—

“( ) No agreeme...

My Lords, this simple amendment would require the people to ratify in a referendum any agreement ...

My Lords, the noble Lord may be coming to this in his speech, but the first requirement of his am...

My Lords, we will spend a lot more time on Wednesday discussing the role of Parliament. The point...

My Lords—

Oh!

Some have argued that if Parliament rejected the Government’s Brexit deal, the will of the people...

The noble Lord was talking about people changing their minds. Given that he campaigned for a real...

My Lords, I am arguing in favour of the principle that, when events change, people change their m...

My Lords, although I oppose this amendment, I can imagine two circumstances in which a second ref...

If we had a second referendum and the question was, “Do you want to stay out or go back?”, how co...

I think that the question of whether they want us back is a very real one. I wanted to come to th...

I am content to be misquoted by the noble Lord and I am content to be able to intervene, not leas...

We look forward to that clarification. If we wanted to, we could quote many other Liberals, not l...

My Lords, “the will of the people” is a phrase much bandied around in the wake of the referendum ...

While we are on the subject of being uncomfortable, is my noble friend comfortable with the many ...

My Lords, I have just said that I have no intention of defying the will of the people; I am givin...

My Lords, I had not intended to speak but I need to, because so far no one has addressed the spec...

Perhaps the noble Lord would be good enough to look at Amendment 32 tabled in my name, which will...

I am a long way from reaching Amendment 32, but I shall certainly look at it in good time. Before...

On the issue of the two Houses, I agree with the amendment, although I will vote against it.

Oh!

No—the amendment’s flaw is: are we seriously going to attempt to send an amendment to the other p...

After the best part of 40 years over which my noble friend and I have been in Parliament, we do n...

My Lords, I intervene briefly in opposition to the amendment. In fact, referring to an amendment ...

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Newby, is one of the most distinguished Members of this House. I g...

Further to the point that the noble Lord is making, I remember spending long hours discussing the...

I am grateful to my noble friend. Perhaps I should rephrase what I said: we were silent on amendi...

On the territory about which the noble Lord is talking, I cannot understand, if negotiations have...

One way of dealing with it would have been to make it clear that we were going to put things to a...

But is that not the point of the amendment—to undermine the negotiations and, in fact, reverse th...

I cannot attribute the motivation. The noble Lord has his view. I am simply saying that if we are...

But the noble Lord will recognise that that is already the case under Section 20 of the 2010 Act....

I am not opposed to the concept, of course. We have already said that it is going to be ratified ...

My Lords, we have already seen this afternoon in our very serious debate about the implications o...

My Lords, I have added my name to the amendment. I thought that the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcro...

My Lords, the noble Lord has made the central case for the amendment: do noble Lords trust the Go...

What I said, as the noble Lord will recall, was that there was a difference between being a membe...

As I recall, the conclusion that I and the audience reached—but we probably cannot go over this n...

Would the noble Lord please correct what he said about the Conservative manifesto saying we would...

The noble Lord could have been much quicker if he said, “Yes but we just changed our minds”—which...

Surely the most brutal form of leaving would be to leave with no deal at all. The problem with th...

I am grateful that the noble Lord led me on to that because I was coming to it next. The Governme...

My Lords, if we can get back to the amendment—I thought for a moment we had segued into the next ...

My Lords, the House will be delighted to hear that I intend to speak briefly on this amendment, a...

The Minister is making the case against a question that we did not ask, which is, “Shall we have ...

My Lords, I am sorry to say that the noble Lord is just making my point for me. We had a referend...

When the Minister talks about the advisory referendum which was giving an opinion, that was the r...

I hear what the noble Lord is saying, but I am sorry to say that that boat, and all this argument...

Since this is an occasion for quotations, I remind him that John Maynard Keynes said:

“When...

My Lords, the Government’s position is very clear. We are absolutely going to stand by the instru...

Is not the real reason people are calling for a second referendum that one side lost and they do ...

I agree with my noble friend, and this is why we have the prospect of a “neverendum”.

Does the Minister really think that the British people had any idea at all what it would mean if ...

I am sorry to say that I dispute what the noble Baroness is saying. The British people voted to l...

Perhaps I might press the Minister for clarification. He says that people want certainty. Is he s...

The noble Baroness and I have many interesting discussions, but I dispute the grounds on which sh...

The Minister has deployed with great moral strength the argument that the people have spoken. I r...

My Lords, the Minister said a moment ago that the decision will come back to both Houses after th...

Answer!

My Lords, the Minister is entitled not to wish to answer the question—and I can understand why. I...

The noble Lord says that the Scottish situation is completely different. The Scottish nationalist...

I have the greatest respect for the noble Lord but I am afraid that that argument simply does not...

This would normally be the time when the House would be looking to take dinner-break business. I ...

Moved by

Lord Hain

4: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end insert—

“( ) Before a no...

My Lords, Amendment 4 is sponsored also by my noble friend Lord Monks and the noble Lords, Lord O...

At the outset of this debate, the whole focus is on the concept that we have benefited and will c...

My Lords—

I shall just finish this sentence. The culture before 1990 was of high tariffs and protection aga...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. I am listening to him with great attention, as I ...

Although manufacturing is very important, it is a smaller and diminishing proportion of our expor...

Is the noble Lord aware that chapter 9 of the White Paper shows that the fastest growth in goods ...

I am not sure I follow the power or logic of that particular point. I am afraid that only three o...

My Lords, I would like to address the question of the single market, which the noble Lord, Lord H...

My Lords, a distinction is made on purpose between access to the single market and membership of ...

On the idea that you can choose between access and membership—membership has some obligations reg...

Of course not. The choice is there. As has been said today from the Front Bench, the public certa...

My Lords, I have put my name to Amendment 4, which was so effectively moved by the noble Lord, Lo...

My Lords, I have no problem in agreeing with the noble Lord, Lord Wigley, that a good trade deal,...

Would the noble Lord respond to the notion that the people decided that they wanted access but no...

My Lords, it would be difficult to respond to that without tying myself in circles, because the n...

I just make the point that the argument that leave made was that the remainers were exaggerating ...

If the leave campaign tried that early on in the campaign, it was certainly shot down by the Gove...

Is not the point a very simple one which the noble Lord does not appear to appreciate—that every ...

My noble friend, as an expert in these matters, is absolutely right. He puts it very succinctly. ...

Perhaps the noble Lord would explain about the people of Norway who voted to not join the Europea...

My Lords, the last thing I heard about Norway was in the news last week. I believe that a Norwegi...

I support Amendment 4. I do so because what the Government are doing is beyond me with their extr...

I can be extremely brief. I just want to take up one point that the noble Lord, Lord Hain, raised...

My Lords, I am grateful to follow the noble Lord, Lord Green. I am going to be brief—I hope very ...

I hope that the noble Lord is not suggesting either that I have such a fear or that I am trying t...

I acknowledge that fully and I hope that the record will reflect that I referred to “the campaign...

In the light of what the noble Lord has just said, does he share my dismay that the leaders of th...

I promised brevity. I share the noble Lord’s dismay for the very simple reason that when I negoti...

My Lords, I have listened carefully to all the contributions on the amendments so far and I feel ...

The implication is not that at all; it is that the patterns and processes of production are now b...

I do not disagree with my noble friend that that is what is going on, but by leaving the single m...

My Lords, I am very pleased to follow the noble Baroness because, with her sharpness and clarity,...

With his distinguished European background, why does the noble Lord not fight to keep us in the E...

Why am I not fighting to keep us in the European Union? My word. Judging by my email inbox, the n...

If everything is so hunky-dory, why is there such a massive balance of payments deficit?

My Lords, it is not a question of everything being hunky-dory, but of how desperately worse off w...

My Lords, we on these Benches fully support the amendment and the excellent arguments made by the...

My Lords, what a nice invitation to have from the noble Baroness. It is almost impossible to disa...

Sorry, but would my noble friend allow me?

Let me finish on this particular point. I will give way if I can first make one statement, as I t...

With great respect, we would not be mere recipients. We would be large, senior, influential membe...

I wish that my noble friend Lord Mandelson was right on that. If it were the case, we might be in...

Shame!

I think that I would like to say a few words, despite what the noble Lord, Lord Mandelson, says. ...

Does that mean that the Government are not ruling out EEA membership for the transition?

I have nothing further to add, other than to say that it is a matter for the negotiations. It is ...

My Lords, respectfully, I completely disagree with the proposition that the Minister has just mad...

Hear, hear.

“Hear, hear”, they say—there we have the confirmation. I do not go lightly against my party Whip....

Moved by

Baroness Quin

6: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end insert—

“( ) Subsect...

My Lords, this amendment stands in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. It calls on ...

My Lords—

My Lords, I support Amendment 6, moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Quin. I will speak to Amendmen...

I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, for attempting to get in before him: I had forgotten...

My Lords, I will be slightly less cynical than the noble Lord, Lord Blencathra, on the subject of...

The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, seems to place great faith in these assessments or forecasts—but the...

I remind the noble Lord that the impact assessment he is reading from was of course produced by t...

My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the court of Newcastle University. The amendment t...

My Lords, I rise to speak finally to the three amendments in this group tabled in my name, Amendm...

My Lords, it most certainly is against the will of the people. The noble Baroness is quite wrong....

The Short Title.

Yes, the Short Title; I have been corrected. The Bill’s name is misleading, because it will enabl...

I thank the noble Lord for the opportunity. Yes, there is quite a lot I dislike, but that is not ...

She voted leave!

My point is that we have to make sure our standards do not drop, because we as a nation have got ...

I have the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. The noble Baroness has very honestly ans...

No!

Oh, apparently we are not. Well, I have been listening to speeches from the Liberal Benches telli...

Does the noble Lord accept that there is a difference between accepting the result of the referen...

I do not think we are particularly interested in the noble Baroness’s personal conviction when, i...

My Lords, I said at the outset that my amendment was a probing amendment to raise various issues ...

I am most grateful to the noble Baroness. I suppose then that she will be withdrawing Amendment 6...

The noble Lord said two things that I do not accept. First, he said that the money that comes fro...

I am sure that the Minister in his excellent way will respond to these particular details. I am l...

Amendment 9 is a probing amendment and I think that the other amendments in this group are simila...

That is not what the noble Lord’s amendment says. It is an interesting argument. When he says tha...

Is the noble Lord finishing?

Is the noble Lord wishing to intervene? The noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, wants to intervene.

I just wonder if the noble Lord would find it useful if one of the four noble Lords whose name is...

To be absolutely fair, I spoke to Amendment 22 earlier in the name of the others. I am sure that ...

Except that I have not finished. Finally, on Amendment 22, there is an interesting idea in subsec...

The noble Lord is giving former MPs in this House a bad name.

I just say to the noble Lord that at least I am not asleep.

My Lords, I intend to build on the comments made by the right reverend Prelate in relation to uni...

My Lords, I will speak to Amendment 27. I am pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, has jus...

My Lords, I will speak briefly in support of my noble friend Lady Quin. Before I do that, I want ...

My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Hannay’s Amendment 22. I do so for one simple reason. I ...

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, it is not my job to do this but the House needs to move on. We should hear from the nob...

No!

My Lords, I do not see the need for any requirement for impact assessments in the Bill, because t...

My Lords, I do not know what the Conservatives are worrying about. I have listened to the noble L...

My Lords, it is getting late and I will therefore try to be brief. First, I congratulate the nobl...

My Lords, I fear that this is an entirely spurious argument. We have wonderful Select Committees ...

I say to the noble Lord, Lord True, that there is a real difference of opinion within this House....

The noble Lord, Lord Hannay, told us earlier of a specific example of where our impact assessment...

You can have differences, but the point is that those differences become relevant in the process ...

My Lords, Amendment 22, on impact assessments, seeks to put us on a level playing field with the ...

My Lords, I, too, shall try to keep things brief. To pick up on what the noble Lord just said, I ...

My Lords, as I made clear from the outset, my amendment and, I believe, others in this group simp...

Moved by

Lord Warner

8: Clause 1, page 1, line 3, at end insert—

“( ) Within a ...

My Lords, we come at this late hour to an important group of amendments, which provide for greate...

My Lords, given the late hour, I shall speak briefly in support of the noble Lord, Lord Warner, a...

I support Amendment 18. All these negotiations are going to be complex and long and for the Gover...

My Lords, I oppose this amendment partly on the basis that we do not need to put it in the Bill a...

If the noble Lord reads my amendment he will see that the Government will actually have a clean b...

Exactly what I was about to say was, if we could have these amendments where we will have an annu...

My Lords, oddly, I am in the very strange position of mildly disagreeing with the noble Lord, Lor...

My Lords, I will speak briefly to Amendment 24 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Lea. I...

My Lords, I support this amendment. A good case was made by the noble Lord, Lord Warner, and my n...

My Lords, in Amendment 18 we seek a quarterly report on the position that the Government have rea...

My Lords, restoring parliamentary sovereignty lay at the core of what the British public were see...

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his explanation. It does not totally surprise me what...