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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I rise to support the amendment ably moved by my hon. Friend the Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) from the Front Bench and the amendments advanced by my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr. Cash), whose knowledge of these matters is more extensive than that of any other Member, as again demonstrated in this evening's debate. I was also struck by the short speech made by my hon. Friend the Member for Woking (Mr. Malins), who correctly defined the essence of parliamentary democracy: mistakes can be corrected and we can reverse legislation that turns out to be wrong or damaging. All Governments—not just this one—make mistakes, but the House, either in the same Parliament or subsequent to an election, can alter the law. We cannot do that if the law is made in another jurisdiction and the procedure for amending or changing it is incredibly long-winded, cumbersome and way beyond our reach.