Proceeding contribution from Ian Davidson (Labour) in the House of Commons on Monday, 21 January 2008. It occurred during Debate on bill on European Union (Amendment) Bill.
European Union (Amendment) Bill
I am sorry, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but I was not sure whether he was the same person. I should refer to him as the hon. Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg). In an article in The Guardian, the hon. Gentleman referred to the Government being afraid to hold a referendum. He wrote:"““The real reason, of course, why the government does not want to hold a referendum is the fear that it may lose… It is the same fear that led Peter Hain to camouflage the constitution with comic inaccuracy as nothing more than a 'tidying up exercise'... Nothing will do more damage to the pro-European movement than giving room to the suspicion that we have something to hide, that we do not have the 'cojones' to carry out our argument to the people””." I understand that ““cojones”” is Spanish for a rude word. That demonstrates to me that the Liberal Democrats can talk balls in many languages—and, indeed, frequently do so.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 470 c1306
- Session
- 2007-08
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Children's rights Competition Development aid Environment protection EU withdrawal EU enlargement European Union Law European communities EU common foreign and security policy Electoral systems EU institutions EU internal relations Referendums Parliament Social security Sovereignty Treaties Reform Taxation Treaty on European Union UK membership of EU European Commission European Court of Justice European Council Treaty of Lisbon EU presidency
- Legislation
- European Union (Amendment) Bill 2007-08
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2024-04-11 17:46:11 +0100
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- http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_436650
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- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_436650