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Debate on Tuesday, 11 December 2007, in the House of Commons, led by David Miliband. The answering member was Lord Hague of Richmond.

European Affairs

Debate on motion to consider the matter of European affairs. Agreed to on division (276 to 17). (Relevant documents: European Scrutiny Committee thirty-fifth report of session 2006-07 (HC 1014) and third report of session 2007-08 (HC 16-iii)).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
469 c181-270 
Session
2007-08
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Related items
Proceeding contributions
Mark Hendrick | 469 c201 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c201 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way for the moment. In addition, the Government argue that Britain has a bespoke ve...
Show all contributions (271)
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c200-1 (Link to this contribution) The fisheries policy has been a catastrophe in many ways. It has been an environmental and economic ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c201 (Link to this contribution) I think that I have made the position clear. I do not say things and not mean them. The Committee f...
Mark Hendrick | 469 c201 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c201 (Link to this contribution) No, I have given way a lot. I wish to advance the rest of my argument before allowing other hon. Mem...
Angus Robertson | 469 c200 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has been very generous. He talked about enshrining policy areas as exclusiv...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c200 (Link to this contribution) Yes, but then I really must get on with the rest of my speech.
Angus Robertson | 469 c200 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) I thoroughly agree with the right hon. Gentleman: the passerelle clause was bad and unacceptable. Ho...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) Well, what a revelation! I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman concedes the point. When he was Min...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) The issue very much requires that kind of commitment. The Government said that they would hold a par...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) I must proceed, but first I will give way to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody);...
Gwyneth Dunwoody | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman. I do not intend to keep him long. Is he aware that we do ...
Denis MacShane | 469 c199 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman knows, some of us are becoming more Thatcherite as the years pass; he is...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c198 (Link to this contribution) Actually I was repeating, more or less word for word, what the right hon. Gentleman said in the Stan...
Gwyneth Dunwoody | 469 c208 (Link to this contribution) If my hon. Friend's Committee had the power to table an amendment to the papers that it considered a...
Michael Connarty | 469 c207-8 (Link to this contribution) I will come back to the charter of fundamental rights, because there are lessons there for the trade...
William Cash | 469 c207 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman know that today, in the case of the International Transport Workers Federati...
Michael Connarty | 469 c205-7 (Link to this contribution) In one way I am disappointed that we are having another general debate on European affairs and not b...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c205 (Link to this contribution) I do not want to dampen their relations with the Foreign Secretary by revealing their names. It is ...
David Miliband | 469 c204 (Link to this contribution) As I said in my speech and in my reply to the right hon. Gentleman, which sadly did not get as much ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c204 (Link to this contribution) If the right hon. Gentleman wishes to tell the House that it is impossible for that to happen, we wi...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c204 (Link to this contribution) I must conclude my speech. I have been speaking for more than half an hour. I want to deal with one ...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c204 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend give way?
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c203 (Link to this contribution) I will, because I am worried about what the hon. Gentleman's Whips may have done to him.
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c203-4 (Link to this contribution) We all wish to congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his bravery and on being wiser and more consistent...
Ian Davidson | 469 c203 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is an inconsistency in the Conservativ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c202-3 (Link to this contribution) If the hon. Gentleman behaves, I will give him a chance to intervene towards the end of my contribut...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c203 (Link to this contribution) I know that Labour Members are showing ever-increasing interest in what happens under a Conservative...
Gwyneth Dunwoody | 469 c181 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to have my right hon. Friend's assurance that no birthright is being signed away. However...
David Miliband | 469 c181 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman knows, no birthrights are being signed away, and I look forward to many ...
Lord Redwood | 469 c181 (Link to this contribution) As the Foreign Secretary is adamant in refusing the British people a vote, why does he not give this...
David Miliband | 469 c181 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of European affairs." I am pleased to open...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c186 (Link to this contribution) Can the Foreign Secretary tell us whether, in the UK Government's assessment, Iran already has the c...
David Miliband | 469 c186 (Link to this contribution) I know that my hon. Friend has recently visited Iran, and I look forward to discussing the visit mad...
Chris Bryant | 469 c185 (Link to this contribution) Does the Foreign Secretary accept that there is considerable unhappiness on the Kosovar side, not le...
David Miliband | 469 c185-6 (Link to this contribution) I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. Carla del Ponte made a presentation to the European Foreign Mi...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c183 (Link to this contribution) I presume that the Foreign Secretary has met the Serbian Foreign Minister to discuss this difficult ...
David Miliband | 469 c184 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to confirm to the hon. Gentleman that I have met the Serbian Foreign Minister three times...
Greg Hands | 469 c184-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the Foreign Secretary that self-determination is key in Kosovo, but there cannot be sel...
David Miliband | 469 c185 (Link to this contribution) The situation in Kosovo is unique, as I think the official Opposition have recognised all along. It ...
Malcolm Rifkind | 469 c184 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman has indicated on the radio that he is now in favour of independence for Kos...
David Miliband | 469 c184 (Link to this contribution) I should like to address the three or four points that the right hon. and learned Gentleman has rais...
David Miliband | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) It is the Bill that comes before the House, and the Bill can certainly be amended.
Doug Henderson | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend confirm that the procedures being adopted by the Government in relation to...
David Miliband | 469 c183 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's intervention is telling, and so is the response from Opposition Members, because wh...
David Miliband | 469 c183 (Link to this contribution) With due respect to hon. Members, I said that I would go through the issues being discussed at the E...
David Miliband | 469 c181-2 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to reassure my hon. Friend that all the details of the treaty will be carefully scrutinis...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. Friend confirm for the record that, however lengthy the debate in the House may b...
David Miliband | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend will know from the exchanges we had in the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs that t...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) Just to clarify exactly what the Foreign Secretary said, will he tell me what would happen if a part...
David Miliband | 469 c182 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right to say that in the end the House has to decide whether to pass the Bill. The...
David Miliband | 469 c187-8 (Link to this contribution) We know that the hon. Gentleman speaks with passion as a member of the ““Better Off Out”” campaign, ...
Philip Davies | 469 c187 (Link to this contribution) Would the Foreign Secretary agree that much of the poverty in Africa is caused by EU trade barriers?...
David Miliband | 469 c187 (Link to this contribution) The prospects are reasonably good. The leaders of the EU countries will send a clear message on Frid...
Bernard Jenkin | 469 c187 (Link to this contribution) We all know that the action that the European Council could take to which the Foreign Secretary refe...
Bob Spink | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for giving way; he is being most generous. At the Council, wi...
David Miliband | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) I only caught the end of the hon. Gentleman's question, but I am happy to reassure him that a nation...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) Before the Foreign Secretary moves on to other matters, will he say whether the Council will discuss...
David Miliband | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) I completely understand the passion that my hon. Friend feels about the matter, and it is shared by ...
Ian Davidson | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) On the question of economic partnership agreements, is the Minister aware that both Namibia and Sout...
David Miliband | 469 c188 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows that if EPAs are not signed by 1 January 2007, the current regime lapses and th...
Brian Binley | 469 c189 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
David Miliband | 469 c189 (Link to this contribution) I must make progress. I am sorry, but I have tried the House's patience sufficiently—
Robert Walter | 469 c189 (Link to this contribution) I share the Foreign Secretary's views about institutional reform, but he has not mentioned one of th...
David Miliband | 469 c189 (Link to this contribution) We will get to the treaty soon. If the hon. Gentleman stops interrupting me, we will get there soone...
David Miliband | 469 c189-90 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes an important point, which he has raised in the House before. Yesterday, an ...
Brian Binley | 469 c190 (Link to this contribution) Will the Foreign Secretary give way?
David Miliband | 469 c190 (Link to this contribution) No, the hon. Gentleman must let me finish the point; I was in the middle of a great rhetorical flour...
David Miliband | 469 c190 (Link to this contribution) I am spoiled for choice, but on the ground of seniority, I must give way to the hon. Member for Aldr...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c194-5 (Link to this contribution) It may well be necessary to raise that issue, and I suspect that the United Nations and the African ...
Mike Gapes | 469 c195 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that now that there has at last been agreement about the policin...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c194 (Link to this contribution) I begin by joining the Foreign Secretary in condemning the bomb attacks in Algeria that we have hear...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c194 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned Darfur. When I visited the province last week, we were informed by th...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee.
Michael Connarty | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry for interrupting the right hon. Gentleman's flow, but I must correct him on an important ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c195 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. I believe that guiding our thoughts on Bosnia and Kosovo should be an absolute determination...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) The situation is a bit worse than my right hon. Friend described. In May, the Foreign Affairs Commit...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that that is correct, because it comes from the Chairman of the Committee. It is also corr...
Richard Younger-Ross | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) The question put to the Foreign Secretary's predecessor was put by me, and she was clear that no neg...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) Far be it for us to think that the Foreign Secretary's predecessor was trying to avoid questioning a...
Bernard Jenkin | 469 c196-7 (Link to this contribution) I might be able to help my right hon. Friend on this point. It might have been quite truthful for th...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c197 (Link to this contribution) There is a large element of truth in what my hon. Friend says. The sad truth is that the Government ...
William Cash | 469 c197 (Link to this contribution) On that very point, would my right hon. Friend also take into account the fact that not only have th...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c197-8 (Link to this contribution) I was going to cite that very passage from that report. It is marvellous of my hon. Friend to provid...
Philip Davies | 469 c198 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that if the Government have negotiated such a marvellous deal they h...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c198 (Link to this contribution) Well, let me put it in a different way. The Government dare not put the treaty to a referendum of th...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c196 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes a good point, because that is highly unusual language from a Select Commi...
Patricia Hewitt | 469 c191 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned the contribution of the new Conservative Prime Minister of Denmark ju...
Brian Binley | 469 c191 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Foreign Secretary for giving way. I want to test his remarks about there being ...
David Miliband | 469 c191 (Link to this contribution) I want the names of those ““experts””, because their advice is, frankly, embarrassing. Any expert wh...
David Miliband | 469 c190-1 (Link to this contribution) It is the constitution that has been abandoned, and it is because it has been abandoned that we are ...
David Miliband | 469 c191 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Member for Northampton, South (Mr. Binley).
David Miliband | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way, for the last time, to my hon. Friend the Member for Preston (Mr. Hendrick).
David Miliband | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) Because the hon. Member for Shrewsbury and Atcham (Daniel Kawczynski) championed the milk industry w...
Speaker | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) Order. It is clear that the Foreign Secretary is not giving way at this stage.
David Miliband | 469 c192-3 (Link to this contribution) The reality is that the treaty gives greater voting weight not to Denmark but to the UK. The treaty ...
David Miliband | 469 c193 (Link to this contribution) Because my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) is my hon. Friend, I will gi...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c193 (Link to this contribution) I have the greatest respect for the Foreign Secretary, but when he says that the greater voting weig...
Mark Hendrick | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) I thank my right hon. Friend for giving way. Does he not find it peculiar that Opposition Members, a...
David Miliband | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) As I pointed out when we last debated the subject, every single member of the current shadow Cabinet...
David Miliband | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) I have been on my feet for 38 minutes, and have tried the House's patience long enough. We will have...
David Miliband | 469 c193 (Link to this contribution) I reciprocate, in spades, my respect for the hon. Lady—[Interruption.]—I mean my hon. Friend, my dea...
David Miliband | 469 c193 (Link to this contribution) No. Should we engage and be influential, or disengage and be marginalised? On the Government side of...
Richard Younger-Ross | 469 c212-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is an excellent Chairman of the Committee—I hope that my saying that does not rui...
Michael Connarty | 469 c212 (Link to this contribution) I am going to finish this point before I take an intervention. The Danish Prime Minister decided th...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c210 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the citizens initiative, which as he rightly says is completely unwo...
Michael Connarty | 469 c209-10 (Link to this contribution) I cannot think of a stronger advocate for more powers for the Committee. At the moment, the Governme...
Ian Davidson | 469 c210 (Link to this contribution) May I seek clarification? If in future 95 per cent. of legislation that comes through Brussels will ...
Michael Connarty | 469 c210 (Link to this contribution) The dialogue was interesting. Some members, particularly people from the Alliance of Liberals and De...
Michael Connarty | 469 c210 (Link to this contribution) That will depend on the Government's attitude to the role of Parliament. When the Government go to t...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c216 (Link to this contribution) We know that the hon. Gentleman's party is actively and devotedly supportive of the European Union. ...
Mark Hunter | 469 c216 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. If he will be patient for a tiny bit longer, I am a...
Mark Hunter | 469 c215-6 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. As I was saying, I am keen to take a moment or two to look at some...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c217 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman therefore agree with the former leader of his MEPs, Mr. Chris Davies, who wr...
Mark Hunter | 469 c217 (Link to this contribution) I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention. The answer to his question is no. If we are ...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 469 c217 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman tell us what has changed between the general election, when it was pertinent...
Mark Hunter | 469 c217 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to answer the hon. Gentleman's question. I will mention just three things that have g...
David Drew | 469 c217-8 (Link to this contribution) For those of us who remain a bit confused about exactly where the Lib Dems stand on the issue, will ...
Mark Hunter | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am not quite sure what he is referring to when he...
Greg Hands | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman answer the question asked by the hon. Member for Strood—
Michael Connarty | 469 c213 (Link to this contribution) That is a factual statement. The previous Minister for Europe, who is now our Chief Whip, has said t...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c213-4 (Link to this contribution) I accept what my hon. Friend says, and I understand the thrust of his arguments. However, would he n...
Michael Connarty | 469 c214 (Link to this contribution) Possibly, because I am not a Eurosceptic. I voted yes in the original referendum on Europe. I had mo...
Mark Hunter | 469 c214-5 (Link to this contribution) First of all, I associate myself with the remarks made by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Com...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) Given that the hon. Gentleman is so proudly internationalist and so proud of his party, is he trying...
Mark Hunter | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. If she will allow me to get into my stride a bit more, s...
Ian Davidson | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) As I understand it, the hon. Gentleman is telling us that the Liberal party is supportive of the Eur...
Mark Hunter | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) I welcome that further intervention, but if the hon. Gentleman is a bit patient and allows me to get...
Ian Davidson | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) Tell me now. I like losing the will to live.
Mark Hunter | 469 c215 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman—[Interruption.]
Speaker | 469 c220 (Link to this contribution) Order. I think that the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mark Hunter) has understood the question.
Mark Hunter | 469 c220 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I also thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but I believe...
Mark Hunter | 469 c219-20 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but he is not going to distract me from the issue t...
Ian Davidson | 469 c220 (Link to this contribution) I am still unclear about the hon. Gentleman's party's position on the issue of a referendum. As I un...
Mark Hunter | 469 c219 (Link to this contribution) I would be very happy to spend the entirety of my speech on that one subject, but this European affa...
Simon Burns | 469 c219 (Link to this contribution) Can the hon. Gentleman clear up one issue that is confusing the House, with a straight yes or no ans...
Speaker | 469 c219 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman has made it clear that he is not giving way at this moment.
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c222 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Cheadle (Mark Hunter). I should like to pursue ...
Mark Hunter | 469 c220-2 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. To help countries such as Bosnia along the road to greater institu...
Speaker | 469 c220 (Link to this contribution) Order. There are far too many individual conversations going on in the Chamber.
Mark Hunter | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention—
Speaker | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Gentleman is replying to an intervention.
Greg Hands | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) I apologise—I have done it again. Will the hon. Gentleman answer the question that the hon. Member f...
Richard Younger-Ross | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) Is the question not whether the other parties will support the Liberal Democrats' amendment? If we w...
Mark Hunter | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. As ever, it is a helpful one. He is absolutely right th...
Mark Hunter | 469 c219 (Link to this contribution) I need to move on; there are a lot of other issues—
William Cash | 469 c227-8 (Link to this contribution) I do, especially given what happened with the referendums in France and the Netherlands, and before ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c227 (Link to this contribution) Like the hon. Gentleman, I am in favour of a referendum. If one were to be held, it would be very po...
William Cash | 469 c226 (Link to this contribution) I have the gravest doubts as to whether the Liberal party has any clear idea about where it is going...
Ian Davidson | 469 c226 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman was in favour of a referendum in 1975, and so was I. May I draw to his attention ...
William Cash | 469 c228-9 (Link to this contribution) I could not agree more. The hon. Gentleman's comments go back to my earlier point about the second w...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c228 (Link to this contribution) I hope that the hon. Gentleman agrees that it is important to distinguish between Europe and the Eur...
Michael Connarty | 469 c229 (Link to this contribution) Leaving aside the indictment of the Government's position, does the hon. Gentleman concur that the T...
John Hayes | 469 c231 (Link to this contribution) The transactional relationship that the hon. Lady describes in European dealings is, of course, a fe...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c232 (Link to this contribution) I think that that is the case. The reality is that absolutely nothing going on within the European U...
William Cash | 469 c229-30 (Link to this contribution) The trade union position has been somewhat variable. As I said to the hon. Gentleman earlier, a Euro...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c231 (Link to this contribution) It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash), and I agree that the debate ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c223 (Link to this contribution) I have never been so pleased to be corrected by an hon. Friend as on this occasion.
Gwyneth Dunwoody | 469 c222-3 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is being rather unkind about Freddie Frinton, who was not only a well-known seaside a...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c223 (Link to this contribution) I am deeply grateful to my hon. Friend. Let me return to the EU.
Gwyneth Dunwoody | 469 c223 (Link to this contribution) Please thank me for my intervention!
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c223-5 (Link to this contribution) Indeed. Let me return to the treaty. I ask the House to bear with me for a few moments, because one ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c223 (Link to this contribution) Just to be serious for a brief moment, my hon. Friend was right to say that we want a choice. Does s...
Michael Connarty | 469 c225 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the call for a referendum is to a certain extent emotional and simpl...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c225-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree that there are dangers associated with referendums. Some countries have banned them, for ver...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c237 (Link to this contribution) It is outrageous, because of the profound promises made by all three parties, but most of all becaus...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c235-7 (Link to this contribution) As the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) observed, there is a sameness about these d...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c235 (Link to this contribution) I pay great tribute to the hon. Gentleman, who I know cares passionately about democracy. I personal...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c239-40 (Link to this contribution) Exactly. We are being asked to enter a federal state whose policies we cannot control and to which w...
David Drew | 469 c239 (Link to this contribution) On the three-line Whip, I have been encouraged to come along to make enthusiastic statements in supp...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c239 (Link to this contribution) Confusion abounds, as my hon. Friend says. I came along all fired up, having limbered up courageousl...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c238 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. It is rather like having marriage guidance after one has been divorced....
Austin Mitchell | 469 c238-9 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for putting it so effectively. It was said by some Labour Members that when t...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c237-8 (Link to this contribution) I agree with every word said by the hon. Member for Aldridge-Brownhills (Mr. Shepherd). As Paul Simo...
Ian Davidson | 469 c233 (Link to this contribution) As I understand the Liberal Democrat position, they do not know what kind of Whip they are on. I sou...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c232-3 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that this was quite fully debated just a couple of weeks ago. The Chairman ...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c232 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree with me that in respect of the EU rebate, which the Government have abandon...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c233 (Link to this contribution) I had noticed that, too. Perhaps they have no Whip on at all today. The Conservatives have only a on...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c233 (Link to this contribution) I am astonished that the Liberal Democrat party, supposedly the most Euro-enthusiastic of all, has n...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c234 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution, and I agree that the detail should be debated in this ...
David Drew | 469 c234 (Link to this contribution) Not only did we make a clear statement in our manifesto at the last election, but ours is the party ...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c234 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree. I was here, and I voted against the Maastricht treaty. My party had told me to abs...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c234-5 (Link to this contribution) The Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Mi...
Baroness Hoey | 469 c233 (Link to this contribution) I will not rub salt into the wounds of the Liberal Democrats—[Hon. Members: ““Go on.””]—but they hav...
Michael Connarty | 469 c234 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows that I respect her stands—they tend to be principled stands—on a number of issu...
Michael Connarty | 469 c240 (Link to this contribution) Am I correct in thinking that, given the opportunity, my hon. Friend would want to pull out from the...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c240 (Link to this contribution) If that is the message that my hon. Friend has received from my speech, I have been speaking to no p...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c242 (Link to this contribution) I will not take another intervention; I provoke people too much. I love my hon. Friend, but I say ““...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 469 c243-5 (Link to this contribution) I am in the happy position of agreeing with most of the preceding speakers, certainly on the great q...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c242-3 (Link to this contribution) The main aim of the Government and MPs of this country is to make this country richer and more power...
Michael Connarty | 469 c242 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend; I knew that I could persuade him to give way. I respect his positio...
Mark Francois | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman mentioned that Wilson never wanted to upset anybody. That is why in 1975 Wilson o...
Chris Bryant | 469 c248-9 (Link to this contribution) Several hon. Members have already referred to the fact that debates on these issues get a bit samey ...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 469 c245 (Link to this contribution) It is easy to be critical of the Government—and I agree with much of the right hon. Gentleman's crit...
Chris Bryant | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) That is good; the hon. Gentleman is very flash, as I pointed out. We also have our own Pike, the ho...
Chris Bryant | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend, who I think has family in the television industry, has just applied to be on ““I'm a...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is using television images. The image for the 20 days of futility next year will be “...
Chris Bryant | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way to the very friendly hon. Gentleman.
Chris Bryant | 469 c249-51 (Link to this contribution) In actual fact, the warden was always trying to make sure that Captain Mainwaring did not get his wa...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c249 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman has compared me to Pike from ““Dad's Army””. May I suggest that he is like the wa...
Chris Bryant | 469 c251 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. The British Council has also been severely harassed over the ...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c251 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that it is very worrying how our ambassador in Moscow is being treated...
David Wright | 469 c251-2 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend noted that Russia has started to deploy aircraft over the North sea again? That h...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) I want a referendum because I promised a referendum in my election literature. The party promised a ...
Jon Trickett | 469 c240 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's position is unravelling slightly. If a series of amendments were to be agreed by th...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for saving the situation. I am surprised that my hon. Friend the Member for H...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend the Member for Hemsworth (Jon Trickett) suggests that we can amend the treaty, but we...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c240 (Link to this contribution) I am not saying that either. My hon. Friend seems to think that the people are not qualified to make...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) After saying that, my hon. Friend accuses me of being confused. Has he thought of joining the Libera...
Jon Trickett | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend provokes me. My position is that the legislation is unacceptable as it is and, if it ...
Austin Mitchell | 469 c242 (Link to this contribution) In politics, we all stand on our heads from time to time. I came into a party in the 1970s that was ...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c241 (Link to this contribution) It is more dire than that. The Government pledged to have a referendum. They have not so much renege...
Jim Murphy | 469 c266-7 (Link to this contribution) In the time available to me, that is not an issue in which I can get involved in great detail. The L...
William Cash | 469 c267-8 (Link to this contribution) rose in his place and claimed to move, That the Question be now put. Question, That the Question be...
Jim Murphy | 469 c265 (Link to this contribution) I was my hon. Friend's Whip in the past, so I know what happened. A number of thoughtful contributi...
Mark Francois | 469 c265 (Link to this contribution) The Minister will know that the Opposition have given the Government strong support in the Litvinenk...
Jim Murphy | 469 c265-6 (Link to this contribution) I put on record the thanks of the Government for that strong cross-party support. It is an important...
Jim Murphy | 469 c264 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend was not just threatened; she actually lost her job. I think that my hon. Friend the M...
Ian Davidson | 469 c261 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mark Francois | 469 c261 (Link to this contribution) I will, but if the hon. Gentleman is going to ask me what the Liberal Democrat position is, he is wa...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c261 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure whether my hon. Friend intends to come to this point later in his speech, but does he ...
Mark Francois | 469 c261 (Link to this contribution) I have some sympathy with my hon. Friend, as it is often baffling to listen to Liberal Democrats as ...
Jim Murphy | 469 c264 (Link to this contribution) I am delighted to have the opportunity to respond to this evening's debate. Before I do so, I wish t...
Ian Davidson | 469 c262 (Link to this contribution) I just wanted to say that I hope that Conservative Back Benchers will not seek in any way to take ad...
Mark Francois | 469 c262-3 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I believe that he intervened at least five times, ...
Jim Murphy | 469 c264-5 (Link to this contribution) All I say to my hon. Friend is that over the next few weeks and months one will not be allowed to tr...
Kelvin Hopkins | 469 c264 (Link to this contribution) Was my hon. Friend hinting that if one shows enthusiasm for the European Union, one might be promote...
Douglas Carswell | 469 c256-8 (Link to this contribution) So it goes on—once again, this House is debating the European question: which powers should be exerc...
Chris Bryant | 469 c252-3 (Link to this contribution) As ever, my hon. Friend makes an important and telling point. Indeed, I am particularly worried abou...
David Drew | 469 c253 (Link to this contribution) There are still some of us who think that the euro has not been an unalloyed success. Indeed, many p...
Chris Bryant | 469 c253-5 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend knows that I am an ardent supporter of the euro. Whether I think we should join today...
Chris Bryant | 469 c255 (Link to this contribution) And possibly a British one. All of them would do far more damage to Africa and other countries aroun...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c255-6 (Link to this contribution) I shall have to curtail my speech somewhat, because of the length of the speeches made by certain Me...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c256 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that the Minister nods in agreement. The Serbian Foreign Minister, obviously, is under a g...
Mark Francois | 469 c259-61 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to sum up for Her Majesty's Opposition this often lively debate. We heard good spee...
Michael Connarty | 469 c210-2 (Link to this contribution) The fluidity of the British constitution is such that what appears to be a system of persuasion and ...
Ian Davidson | 469 c226 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
William Cash | 469 c226 (Link to this contribution) In a moment. Intriguingly, the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk (Michael Connarty), the C...
David Heathcoat-Amory | 469 c245-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady makes a fair point, but she would accept that, although the Convention on the Future o...
Ian Davidson | 469 c266 (Link to this contribution) While my hon. Friend is on the subject of political and intellectual incoherence, may I ask him abou...
Greg Hands | 469 c258-9 (Link to this contribution) At the beginning of the debate, the bomb that exploded in Algeria was mentioned. I want to comment o...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c199-200 (Link to this contribution) On the particular matter that we are discussing, unanimity is required to abolish further vetoes, an...
Denis MacShane | 469 c198 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman accept that it was Margaret Thatcher in 1984 who first called for the ...
David Miliband | 469 c191-2 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend makes an important point, because the truth is that the Conservative party is n...
Daniel Kawczynski | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) As the right hon. Gentleman knows, that is another issue close to my heart. I understand why he has ...
William Cash | 469 c226 (Link to this contribution) I am glad to follow the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart), for the very good reason ...
Mark Hendrick | 469 c203 (Link to this contribution) I thank the shadow Foreign Secretary for giving way. He has given 101 reasons why he is opposed to t...
Richard Shepherd | 469 c190 (Link to this contribution) Bless the very young Foreign Secretary. However, he has not mentioned the greatest myth of all—the L...
Mark Hunter | 469 c218 (Link to this contribution) I do not know how many times I can say this in words of one syllable that hon. Members can understan...
Jon Trickett | 469 c240 (Link to this contribution) I am trying to understand my hon. Friend's position. I came to the debate today thinking that we mig...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 469 c204 (Link to this contribution) What the treaty says is that they cannot hold another occupation. The Foreign Secretary did not quit...
Ian Davidson | 469 c203 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
David Miliband | 469 c192 (Link to this contribution) Some people would like us to have a constitution, but whether we have a constitution or not is a sep...
Subjects
EU enlargement European Union EU common foreign and security policy EU action EU external trade EU reform Nuclear fuels Politics and government Sovereignty Treaties Serbia Kosovo European Council Iran EU immigration EU aid ACP countries
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