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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I appreciate that that was what the noble Lord thought he was saying, but I made exactly those points at Second Reading and at the beginning of Committee this afternoon. They are perfectly clear to everybody; we cannot amend the treaty. I thought it was clear to most people that if we are to examine this line by line in the interest of the public—the wider public who look on Parliament askance at the moment because we let so much through—the only procedure is by tabling amendments of this kind. There are amendments that can improve the Bill without changing the treaty, and we will hope to have some support from free-thinking Members from all parties for those. We shall see. These are ways of examining the treaty. They are perfectly accepted ways. They were explained very clearly at the beginning, and the fact that they were raised again by the noble Lords, Lord Tomlinson and Lord Lea, alarmed me a bit because it sounded as though they were gunning for us and were not in favour of full discussion of this treaty. I accept from what the noble Lord, Lord Lea, said that he did not mean that, but that is what it sounded like, and I felt I had to intervene to say that. These are the only comments I wish to make on this amendment, which we shall not support.