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Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's usual generosity. I want open competitive markets, but I object to the use of the word ““undistorted”” because it denotes that a state of perfect competition can be reached: it cannot. He talks about unfettered markets and so on, but I want markets with certain fetters. I want fetters so that we do not send schoolboys up chimneys to clean them and so that we do not have unguarded machinery at work. I want people to have that kind of social protection. I find the concept of undistorted competition ridiculous on the grounds of both economics and social protection. I want open and competitive markets, but ““undistorted”” is a nonsense word.