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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I was not trying to signal that to the noble Lord; I was seeking to see whether or not he had finished. The noble Lord was interrupted and I thought that I would let the noble Lord, Lord Campbell of Alloway, move on from an interruption to a new speech. It was purely a point of clarification. I have spoken to noble Lords about how far we might get today and, as there are so many noble Lords who reasonably wish to speak in the debate, whether we could keep our remarks succinct. I rise only when I think that we have said everything that can be said and are in danger of saying it again. At that point, it benefits us all if I at least give my response to what has been said. Often noble Lords wish me to do so. We have to be careful that no one impugns the integrity of anyone in the House. The committee did a fantastic job in looking through the treaty and I pay enormous credit to it. I also pay credit to all the noble Lords who spent an enormous amount of time and energy reading the treaty and coming to their own opinion on it. The noble Lord, Lord Pearson, does not need to interrupt me. I am not impugning his integrity. I am simply saying that I think that we should, as a general way of operating, regard all that is done to improve the clarification of this treaty as being positive. In no way does that prevent noble Lords from disagreeing with conclusions that have been reached. I do not accept that, just because one holds an opinion, one cannot look at information properly.