---

European Union Bill

Would the Minister accept that he made a slightly selective quotation from Professor Bogdanor’s memorandum? The bits of the memorandum that he read out were those governed by phrases such as ““it could be argued””, and ““it may be suggested””. It is clear that those were not the views of Professor Bogdanor. Towards the end, having listed various contrary arguments, his memorandum concluded: "““The solution to these difficulties is to provide that the referendums be explicitly advisory””." The last lines of his memorandum were, "““The European Union bill declares that Parliament is sovereign. It then proposes to bind future parliaments through a referendum lock. Was it not the Queen, in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass, who declared that she had been able to believe in six impossible things before breakfast?””." The Minister should beware of selective quotations.