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Debate on Thursday, 26 October 2006, in the House of Commons, led by Geoffrey Hoon. The answering member was Lord Brady of Altrincham.

A Citizens’ Agenda

Debate on a motion to take note of European Union document No 9390/06, European Commission communication "A Citizen's Agenda - delivering results for Europe. Agreed to on division (256 to 134).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
450 c1708-36 
Session
2005-06
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Show all related items (5)
Proceeding contributions
Philip Hollobone | 450 c1711 (Link to this contribution) It is appropriate that this debate follows the one on the Fraud Bill, as the Commission’s accounts h...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1711-2 (Link to this contribution) If that was a none-too-subtle way of identifying my age, I confess that I did vote, and I voted on t...
Show all contributions (69)
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1712 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friends are clearly offering constructive advice and support, as they consistently do—do the...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1711 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry that my hon. Friend takes that point of view, but he is not strictly accurate. The percen...
Ian Davidson | 450 c1711 (Link to this contribution) When the Minister discusses the need for reform of agriculture, has he noted the way in which many o...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1711 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that my hon. Friend is not relying on occasional anecdotal evidence that he has drawn from...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1712 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a good and practical point. As the European Union has enlarged, it has become n...
David S Borrow | 450 c1712 (Link to this contribution) I hope that my comments will be considered helpful. Does my right hon. Friend agree that when it com...
Kelvin Hopkins | 450 c1712 (Link to this contribution) Surely what my hon. Friend the Member for South Ribble (Mr. Borrow) has said about the future of a E...
Lord Vaizey of Didcot | 450 c1714 (Link to this contribution) Given that we are discussing the effectiveness of the EU at environmental protection, will the Minis...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1714 (Link to this contribution) We have never suggested that the existing system provides an ideal solution. We want it improved and...
Peter Bone | 450 c1713 (Link to this contribution) Surely the Minister is not arguing that environmental protection stops just with the European Union....
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1713-4 (Link to this contribution) I was not suggesting that for a moment, but if 27 member states can from 1 January next year agree o...
Philip Davies | 450 c1713 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He has been very generous. Things appear to have move...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1713 (Link to this contribution) I did see the results of that poll, and I have seen the results of a number of other polls which do ...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1712-3 (Link to this contribution) I do not accept my hon. Friend’s description of the operation of the European Union. As a very disti...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1713 (Link to this contribution) I appear to have provoked a storm of protest. I give way to the hon. Gentleman at the back.
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1714 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend tempts me to begin negotiations well before they need to start. She will be aware of ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 450 c1714 (Link to this contribution) I want to return to an earlier point about the effectiveness of decision-making in the EU now that i...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1708 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 9390/06, Commission Communi...
Keith Vaz | 450 c1708 (Link to this contribution) No matter what the document says—I agree with the Minister that it is a good document—will he undert...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his intervention. I had a particularly useful and interest...
William Cash | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) Bearing in mind the fact that the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz) participated in ...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) I think that I have dealt with the hon. Gentleman’s point. As the Commission’s ““Plan D”” rightly s...
Kelvin Hopkins | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) Given that the last opinion poll on the constitution showed that 86 per cent. of the British people ...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) When I used the word ““spontaneous””, I knew that I risked combustion from the Opposition Benches. G...
William Cash | 450 c1709 (Link to this contribution) The pamphlet had nothing to do with culture and education; it had to do with the European constituti...
David Drew | 450 c1710-1 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to cast any aspersions on the private grief of the Conservative party. The most pro-en...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1710 (Link to this contribution) The issue is clear. We support the existing competences of the European Union, which the hon. Gentle...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1710 (Link to this contribution) Can the Minister tell the House which new competences he would like the EU to have on environmental ...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1709-10 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, the results in France and the Netherlands are what concern the European Union’s leaders. ...
Jenny Willott | 450 c1724 (Link to this contribution) I wish to start by making a brief comment on yesterday’s announcement by the Home Secretary on the l...
Michael Connarty | 450 c1723-4 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for reminding me. It was a great pleasure to be nominated by all the grou...
Jenny Willott | 450 c1725 (Link to this contribution) As we have discovered from several interventions in the debate, there are differing views in all the...
Ian Davidson | 450 c1725 (Link to this contribution) May I seek clarification on whether the Liberal Democrats are united on this matter? Do the Liberal ...
William Cash | 450 c1722 (Link to this contribution) May I take this opportunity to congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his appointment as Chairman of the...
Michael Connarty | 450 c1720-2 (Link to this contribution) I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The rock is being damned by the Opposition’s faint prais...
Richard Younger-Ross | 450 c1723 (Link to this contribution) We must welcome the hon. Gentleman to his post as Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee. We be...
Michael Connarty | 450 c1722-3 (Link to this contribution) I think that we hoped that the Minister would be involved in the dialogue and would report back to u...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1719-20 (Link to this contribution) I am not in a position to speak for Conservative Governments in the very distant future, but I can s...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 450 c1719 (Link to this contribution) Do I take it from what the hon. Gentleman said that a future Conservative Government in the very dis...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1719 (Link to this contribution) The crucial thing for my hon. Friend to understand, as I am sure he does—he has such a clear underst...
William Cash | 450 c1718 (Link to this contribution) I concur with much of what my hon. Friend has said. Will he be good enough to enlighten me on one po...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1718 (Link to this contribution) I do not support the treaty, I oppose it. I wish that we had had the opportunity to hold a referendu...
Alison Seabeck | 450 c1717 (Link to this contribution) I am listening to the hon. Gentleman with interest. Will he say which parts of the constitutional tr...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1717 (Link to this contribution) That may be the hon. Gentleman’s policy, but it is not mine. It was rather amusing when the Minister...
David Drew | 450 c1717 (Link to this contribution) I know what Conservative policy is in respect of bringing back the social union, but is that not hyp...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1717 (Link to this contribution) The internal management may well need changes, but it is also important that the EU seeks to do less...
David S Borrow | 450 c1717 (Link to this contribution) Following on from my question to my right hon. Friend the Minister, would the hon. Gentleman care to...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1715-6 (Link to this contribution) I join the Minister in congratulating the European Scrutiny Committee, which has done a fantastic jo...
Geoffrey Hoon | 450 c1714-5 (Link to this contribution) I had better make some progress, as other hon. Members want to take the opportunity to contribute to...
Ian Davidson | 450 c1729 (Link to this contribution) Is there not a great danger in describing the post of which my hon. Friend approves as the Minister ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 450 c1727-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, extremists, whether from the right or the left, appear to be offering certainties, and people w...
Kelvin Hopkins | 450 c1727 (Link to this contribution) I strongly agree with my hon. Friend about people becoming alienated when they are ignored. Does she...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 450 c1727 (Link to this contribution) The title ““citizens’ agenda”” highlights the problem that we face, because we in this country are n...
Jenny Willott | 450 c1726-7 (Link to this contribution) No. We have had enough debate on the matter. ““A Citizens’ Agenda”” speaks of deeper economic integ...
Jenny Willott | 450 c1725-6 (Link to this contribution) That is part of a much larger debate that needs to take place. Each area of policy needs to be consi...
Lord Brady of Altrincham | 450 c1725 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted that the hon. Lady and her party are committed to subsidiarity. Can she give me her p...
Jenny Willott | 450 c1725 (Link to this contribution) It has been made clear that the constitutional treaty in its present form is dead in the water. The ...
Mark Lazarowicz | 450 c1725 (Link to this contribution) The gentleman who was quoted is the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, not ...
David S Borrow | 450 c1732-3 (Link to this contribution) I want to make a few brief points in the last few minutes of the debate. I did not altogether agree...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 450 c1731-2 (Link to this contribution) I have a constructive suggestion—opening up all the secret committees to public scrutiny. The Gover...
William Cash | 450 c1730 (Link to this contribution) I very much endorse my right hon. Friend’s comments and those of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edg...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 450 c1729-30 (Link to this contribution) We have been debating something that does not exist, as there is no citizens’ agenda in Europe. The ...
Mark Lazarowicz | 450 c1731 (Link to this contribution) It is easy to make points about the number of committees. I daresay that, if one added up all the UK...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 450 c1730-1 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. The House has a crucial contribution to make to openness and transparen...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 450 c1729 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that, whatever the title of the position, the House would soon knock whoever holds it into...
Subjects
Accountability Democracy EU enlargement European Union EU action Parliamentary scrutiny Subsidiarity Common agricultural policy EU energy policy Trade competitiveness
Link
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