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Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty)

My right hon. Friend is certainly right that the Government want to drive the Bill through, although I suspect that this evening they will not have even the Liberal Democrats’ votes, so I shall not be as rude about them as I usually am. No doubt the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) will make his case in a moment—or for most of the evening, in all probability. The arguments employed by the Government on the matter of parliamentary scrutiny of the EU constitutional treaty have varied over the years depending on their policy at the time. In early 2004, having given up the argument that the EU constitution was of no real importance and only a tidying-up exercise, Tony Blair argued that it was too important for a referendum and of such vastness and complexity that it could be examined only by parliamentary debate. The idea of the former Prime Minister being deeply attached to parliamentary scrutiny and debate was always a little suspect, and it was soon fully reversed when he announced that the character of the subject’s importance had changed and that it did require a national referendum. Notwithstanding their election commitments, the Government have returned to the second of those three positions, as the Prime Minister said at his press conference on 18 October that"““this should now go to Parliament for very detailed discussion by Members of Parliament””." On 14 December, he said that the treaty"““will be debated in great precision in the House of Commons””." It is a surprise to the House of Commons, as the Minister has discovered in the past hour and a half, that that great precision involves suspending Standing Order No. 24, leaving the Government in charge of decisions on emergency debates, rather the Speaker. Many of my hon. Friends have spoken very strongly against that proposal.