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Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty)

Ireland has a common law system, but every other country is different. [Interruption.] Yes, it will have a referendum—that is built into its constitution. Perhaps hon. Members have not noticed that we do not have such a constitution. It is relevant to look at other countries, because we live in a global society. To ignore things that happen in other countries is to do a disservice to our country and to our constituents. That may be the Conservative way of doing things, but I do not think that it is the correct way of doing them. The hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills criticised the process for debate, and argued that it was wrong to hold a general debate followed by one on amendments, because we have always done it the other way round. However, he did not provide any logic to explain why it was wrong. I take his point—it is a different process—but I did not hear any logical arguments. His defence appears to be: ““We do it this way, because that is how we do it””, rather than because it is the right way.