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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I have a question for the Minister that is not so much about agriculture as about his constitutional argument. He is saying that if the European Parliament were more involved, his best guess is that that would result in a more realistic attitude to reform of the CAP. He is saying that, if he is right, that will happen now. He is proposing—this goes into other areas and is a very important principle that we will debate elsewhere in our proceedings on the Bill—an increase in the powers of the European Parliament, and he is justifying it in this debate purely on the political outcome that it will have now and not on its merits per se. That is one of the dangers. These irreversible changes are made because they are to our advantage now, regardless of whether they will be to our advantage in the long term. That is one of the biggest issues in the whole debate on the whole treaty.