---

Treaty of Lisbon (No. 2)

I strongly agree. It is one of the surprising ironies of political life that one occasionally finds oneself quoting people with whom one does not always agree. When preparing for this debate—and I did prepare for it—I came across the following comment, which touches on my hon. Friend's point:"““we can take pride in the distance travelled””" in Europe,"““But we must also remember how far we still have to go. The Community is now launching itself on a course…which must make it possible for Europe to compete on equal terms with the United States and Japan….What we need are strengths which we can only find together. We must be stronger in new technologies. We must have the full benefit of a single large market.””" That was said by Lady Thatcher in 1986, when she was Prime Minister. It would be an interesting test if we had a quick show of hands to see who on the Conservative Benches still agrees. I suspect that I know who would agree—there are a few decent Members there—but I suspect that a lot of Conservative Members have moved on.