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European Union (Amendment) Bill

Perhaps the noble Lord can answer a question which I have asked in another context: why did the Governments of which he was a Member, who negotiated and ratified treaties of much greater import than this one, not introduce a clause of this kind into the legislation when they were passing it through Parliament if he feels it was so important? Secondly, now that the Lisbon treaty will contain a provision for withdrawal, would it not be dishonest and dishonourable for a Government to legislate unilaterally when there was a perfectly good procedure in the treaty under which they could get into the position the noble Lord wishes by notifying their partners that they wished to withdraw from their legal obligations and cease to be a member of the European Union? If you were not prepared to do that, then you really would be in a weak negotiating position.