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EU: UK Membership

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have participated. I do not think that I am revealing any secrets of the inner workings of the Liberal Democrats to say that there was some concern at my arguing for a debate on this topic at this time. I think that I have been fully vindicated by the quality and range of contributions from all Benches, not least from the full reply that we received from the Minister. I was surprised that the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, popped up right at the end, but I suppose, to take the usual Shakespearian analogy, a debate on Europe without him would be like ““A Midsummer Night’s Dream”” without Bottom. We have had a good debate. I do not think that the noble Lord, Lord Howell, got a single speck of mud on his whites during his contribution. We missed the noble Lord, Lord Grenfell, and some of the other Members of the European Union Committee, who I fully understand have been involved elsewhere. When I was involved in foreign affairs in the 1970s, I was always intrigued by a statement that used to come out of meetings which were carried out entirely in secret in the old Politburo of the Soviet Union. The press was later reassured by the statement, which said that the meeting had been a full and frank discussion conducted in a comradely atmosphere. I can think of no better description for our debate today. I beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers. Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.