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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I thank the noble Baroness the Leader of the House for her speech and for her undertaking that the Government’s reply to the Select Committee’s report will be available before Report on the Bill. I was rather disappointed by what she said in response to the amendment, but I was encouraged by what was said by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Morris, and the noble Lords, Lord Rowlands and Lord Jopling, who between them bring decades, if not centuries, of experience on other people’s doorsteps. They understand the perception of our relationship with Europe from outside Parliament and how the way we react to the Bill will be affected by it. As the noble Lord, Lord Jopling, said, we use the affirmative procedure for far less important matters than the opt-ins that we are considering under the Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Roper, in a typically perceptive speech, expressed the hope that what is proposed in this amendment would not be mutually exclusive with scrutiny in the European committee. There is no such intention. The committee did not consider the matter, but my intention is that they would be complementary, as the noble Lord, Lord Blackwell, said. Perhaps an excess of delicacy prevented me addressing the Minister’s remarks to the committee. These were alluded to by the noble Lord, Lord Rowlands, and my noble friend Lord Jopling, in talking about the final word on opt-ins remaining with the Executive. I am sure that it was not the Minister’s intention to throw down the gauntlet to Parliament. Governments who have done that in the past tend to find that, in the end, Parliament prevails. We await the Government’s detailed response to the committee’s report. We will think carefully about that and return to the matter on Report. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.