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European Union (Amendment) Bill

The noble Lord is absolutely correct; it would indeed be improper, and we have made that clear. From discussing the issues with some Council officials working on this and with the Commission in Brussels, I can say that there was no suggestion of doing anything like that. On the other hand, as the noble Lord would accept, with a possibility of ratification towards the end of the year and the treaty potentially coming into force at the beginning of next year, there is lots more to do. We will not bring it all in at once, but none the less it is important to work out how the process would take place. We have endeavoured to keep in touch with the Select Committees here on the technical issues, and we will make sure that we continue to do that. As the letter of my honourable friend Jim Murphy indicated, we will make sure that we keep people in touch with that. It does not preclude debates in your Lordships’ House or another place on specific issues concerned with it.