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Lisbon Treaty (No.1)

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr. Cash), my right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer), the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee—the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty)—and, indeed, the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), who very fairly quoted from the Committee's work. He did not, however, quote from its conclusion:"““We recommend that the UK Government should make clear to its EU partners that at present the case for moving criminal law matters from the third pillar has not been made. There is room for debate as to whether, in the future, it may be in the UK's interests to accept such a change. Members of our Committee hold different views as to whether it might ever be acceptable to agree to this. It is indisputable that such a change would be of great significance. The UK Government should not agree to any such proposal without full and specific parliamentary consideration of the issue.””" The present Chairman does a very good job, but he was not a member of the Committee at the time. As someone who was, I find myself in the happy position of being able to agree with myself.