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Treaty of Lisbon (No. 4)

The right hon. Gentleman is right. The Brits are good at buying houses, but not at plumbing. On top of all that, there is the competition policy that is essential for cross-border mergers and monopoly relationships. We need to have a discipline governing state aid, and finally there is the single market. The right hon. Member for Suffolk, Coastal (Mr. Gummer) helpfully reminded us of the major contribution made by Lady Thatcher—Mrs. Thatcher as she then was—in introducing the single market. She was acting on the advice and encouragement of Lord Cockfield, who was the real inspiration behind the move. It is worth recalling what the then Prime Minister said, as in no sense was she naive about the implications of the single market. In her diary, she wrote:"““British business would be amongst the most likely to benefit from an opening up of other countries' markets…The price which we would have to pay to achieve a Single Market with all its economic benefits…was more majority voting in the Community.””" She therefore understood very clearly the price that had to be paid if the objective of a single market was to be achieved. Similarly, it is inherent in the creation of a single market that there is more harmonisation. That can often be very irritating and produce slightly absurd consequences, but it has to happen. Anyone who has been involved in the standardisation process more generally, such as through the International Organisation for Standardisation in Maastricht, will know that there has to be a degree of harmonisation if meaningful markets are to be achieved. The classic case is the square pin plug that does not fit in round sockets. At some point, people have to agree that there has to be interoperability and that means that there has to be harmonisation. However, harmonisation can be frustrating, and it imposes some of the regulatory costs about which the right hon. Member for Wells (Mr. Heathcoat-Amory) was complaining.