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Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty)

It is not a red herring. It is an absolutely central proposal in the treaty—[Interruption.] It is not even a matter of fishing policy. There is also a suggestion that we should have further debates on the role of national Parliaments. I should be happy to add all these topics to the agenda. There is also a strong case for devoting more time to debating the central issues, including foreign policy and defence. The treaty proposes changes in structure, which I welcome. For example, it is a good idea to have one person responsible for foreign policy, rather than a Commissioner and another senior official. There are many good things in the treaty, and they are big enough issues to warrant debate, as are the issues that are on the agenda for tomorrow, for which the time allowed is inadequate. There should be an opt-out in relation to justice and home affairs, and the Government have negotiated just such an opt-out. My hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg), now our party leader, argued strongly for that, as did our previous party leader and our new spokesman on home affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne), who will speak tomorrow. He will also make that argument, which is one that I have advanced all the time. Those matters are rightly not part of our commitment at the moment. There is a proper debate to be had on what could happen to make them part of our commitment, however. Would there need to be proper protection for Parliament, to protect us from the position changing from an opt-in to being part of the obligation? Asylum, migration, border crime, justice policy, policing and human trafficking all deserve more than a day’s debate, whether the days are split into two periods of three hours or in any other way.