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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I am extremely grateful and honoured to be able to lead the debate on this subject. In the previous debate, we demonstrated the enormous gulf between us and the Government and, furthermore, the gulf between the Government and reality. Last night, I watched a fascinating programme on the history of the atom. It contained things that I almost could not understand, but one thing I grasped was that according to those enormous brains—Mr. Feynman, Mr. Gell-Mann, Mr. Dirac, Mr. Einstein and all the others—there is a notion of virtual reality. The Government have that notion in respect of the charter of fundamental rights. It is absolutely clear from the European Scrutiny Committee report and from other eminent analyses by significant and interesting lawyers that there is no doubt that the charter of fundamental rights will be made applicable in the UK sooner or later by the European Court of Justice. It will catch up with the Government, just as the working time directive caught up with us despite my attempts to get my Government to understand in the 1980s that that would happen. Why was I right? It was not because of any stroke of genius, but simply because I know the ways of the ECJ. It is interesting to remember that the Government were opposed to the provisions in the charter of fundamental rights being applied through the treaty and the protocols, and it is equally true that they have tried to put up various roadblocks. I do not think that they have succeeded. Thanks to the European Scrutiny Committee, their cover has been blown.