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European Union (Amendment) Bill

I am grateful to my noble friend for reminding me of that. Nothing surprises me when it comes to the European Parliament. It is not right to say that the European Union has the monopoly on democracy. All noble Lords who have spoken against referendums largely seem to be a part of the ““eurocracy”” and they do not like losing democratic referendums. That is what has happened and so, of course, they certainly do not want a referendum on the treaty—and not even on in or out—because they might not welcome the result. Let me remind noble Lords of the striking and groundbreaking speech yesterday of the noble Lord, Lord Owen, who was, after all, a Labour Party Foreign Secretary. He said: "““We consistently move forward with greater European integration against the will of the British people. We can argue about particular opinion polls at particular times, but there is a steady opposition to what we are doing in Parliament, which has ""been going on, I would say, since the early 1980s, which is a long time for Parliament to be in opposition to sustained public opinion””.—[Official Report, 19/5/08; cols. 1328-29.]" It is worth reflecting on what the noble Lord said. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester said rather the same thing today.