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Backbench debate on Monday, 24 October 2011, in the House of Commons, led by David Nuttall. The answering member was Lord Hague of Richmond.

National Referendum on the European Union

Thirty-fourth backbench debate. Main question negatived on division (111 votes to 483).

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
534 c46-144 
Session
2010-12
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 534 c46 (Link to this contribution) I should inform the House that I have selected none of the amendments. In view of the very large nu...
John Hemming | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) A lot of changes are happening throughout Europe. Does my hon. Friend accept that we need to add som...
Show all contributions (358)
David Nuttall | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) I believe that now is the time to start—
Speaker | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I appeal to the House to settle down? A large number of noisy private conservations are t...
David Nuttall | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker. I believe that it is now time to start the process of consulting the British ...
Martin Horwood | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman will know, as I am sure he read the Liberal Democrat manifesto very carefully, th...
David Nuttall | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) The fact is that all the opinion polls show that approximately two thirds of the people want a refer...
Anne Main | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Here it is in black and white—it was in orange. This is exactly ...
Philip Davies | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) I very much agree with my hon. Friend. Does he agree that people will be even more baffled to unders...
David Nuttall | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that millions of Liberal Democrat voters would appreciate having the chance to have their ...
Jim Hood | 534 c51 (Link to this contribution) I have been here for a few Parliaments now and I have never needed to be strong-armed to support the...
Jim Hood | 534 c51 (Link to this contribution) I may not be the historian that my hon. Friend gives me credit for, but I remember Mrs Thatcher sayi...
Michael Connarty | 534 c51 (Link to this contribution) The mover of the motion, the hon. Member for Bury North (Mr Nuttall), alluded to the fact that Membe...
Jim Hood | 534 c50-1 (Link to this contribution) I welcome this debate. For new Members in the new Parliament, this will be their first experience of...
Mike Gapes | 534 c51 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned Lady Thatcher. Is she not also the former Prime Minister who described refe...
Speaker | 534 c50 (Link to this contribution) Order. I want to hear the hon. Gentleman's response.
David Nuttall | 534 c50 (Link to this contribution) We always have to be careful about whether we are listening to the vocal minority or the silent majo...
David Nuttall | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) If one added together all the petitions, one would find that many hundreds of thousands of people ha...
Andrew Bridgen | 534 c50 (Link to this contribution) Has my hon. Friend had the same experience as I have? In the past week I have had dozens and dozens ...
Nadine Dorries | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend also acknowledge that not only is he moving this motion, but more than 100,000 p...
David Nuttall | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the Prime Minister has many important duties to attend to.
John Baron | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. The key point is that what this country joine...
David Nuttall | 534 c47-8 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend. I will now press on. A staggering 84% of the current voting age population ...
Wayne David | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) Why does the hon. Gentleman think that the Prime Minister has not stayed to listen to his speech?
David Nuttall | 534 c48 (Link to this contribution) The European Union Act 2011 deals with the future, but this motion deals with where we are today. Pe...
David Nuttall | 534 c47 (Link to this contribution) I believe it is for this Parliament to decide what rules and regulations should be taken up. The vo...
Heather Wheeler | 534 c47 (Link to this contribution) Back in 1975, I was engaged in political work but I was also too young to have a vote, so I am very ...
David Nuttall | 534 c46-7 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House calls upon the Government to introduce a Bill in the next session of ...
Denis MacShane | 534 c47 (Link to this contribution) Two weeks ago at the Inverclyde Royal hospital, 23-year-old doctor Lauren Connelly died in a car cra...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c57 (Link to this contribution) That is one of the reasons I am giving. My fifth reason is that the concept of holding a three-way ...
Simon Hughes | 534 c57 (Link to this contribution) Although of course the Foreign Secretary and his party, and I and mine, come from different position...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c56-7 (Link to this contribution) Let me give my fourth reason before giving way to a Liberal Democrat Member. As the Prime Minister ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c56 (Link to this contribution) The only treaty change agreed so far—I am coming to this point—is the one that puts the European sta...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 534 c56 (Link to this contribution) Given that the Foreign Secretary said that if there is further substantial transference of power to ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c56 (Link to this contribution) I will give two more reasons, and then I will give way again. The second and third reasons why I do ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c53-4 (Link to this contribution) I am going to proceed for a while, given the time constraints. I will give way again a little later....
Daniel Byles | 534 c52 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. Friend mentioned the Opposition's view. Does he not share my bewilderment that the Lea...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c52 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Lanark and Hamilton East (Mr Hood) and his shocking r...
Jim Hood | 534 c51-2 (Link to this contribution) It may surprise the hon. Gentleman that I am not very good at remembering Tony Blair's quotes either...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 534 c51 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is telling the House of many of his fond memories. Does he remember a certain Ton...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the right hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr MacShane), but then I will make a lot of ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) As my right hon. Friend knows, we are also improving the scrutiny of opt-in decisions by this House ...
Lord Redwood | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) Does the Foreign Secretary not see that very substantial transfers of power are going on at the mome...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) Well, I never cease to be bewildered by the statements of the Leader of the Opposition, so we will l...
Denis MacShane | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) Is it now the Foreign Secretary's view, and that of the Prime Minister, as he seemed to indicate in ...
William Cash | 534 c56 (Link to this contribution) In light of what my right hon. Friend said in advocacy of the single market as it now operates, will...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c56 (Link to this contribution) The remedy is to restore the health of the British economy, to have a tax system, such as the Chance...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 534 c54 (Link to this contribution) The Foreign Secretary has quite rightly tried to outline the savings that the Government are making ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c54 (Link to this contribution) I will give way again in a moment. It is my view and the Prime Minister's view, and the position of...
Andrew Selous | 534 c54 (Link to this contribution) On trade, may I take the Foreign Secretary from the general to the specific? A number of my constitu...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c54 (Link to this contribution) I have explained what we are doing to keep the European budget down, and how I believe the European ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c55 (Link to this contribution) I will have to proceed again. We are under this time constraint. That is the Government's policy to...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c54 (Link to this contribution) It is true that if the European Union's external tariffs were applied to the car industry they would...
John Baron | 534 c55 (Link to this contribution) No one doubts my right hon. Friend's Euroscepticism, but, despite all the talk of reclaiming powers,...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c55 (Link to this contribution) But I will give way one more time, to my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baro...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c55 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with my hon. Friend that that is what is happening day by day, or week by week. In fo...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that we still have sufficient time before the Foreign Secretary catches the plane to get h...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) I will give way to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Edgbaston (Ms Stuart) and then to my hon. Friend ...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c57-8 (Link to this contribution) I will give way again in a moment. If we voted to leave the European Union, would that mean that, l...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) I said that I would give way again, and I give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve B...
Steve Baker | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) Surely my right hon. Friend must know as well as I do that preferential systems are used in this Hou...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend's argument is that he would have a preferential voting system, but not everybody woul...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) I will give way another couple of times in a moment, but I am trying to help the House to make progr...
Peter Bone | 534 c139 (Link to this contribution) It is customary when summing up to say, ““This has been a good debate,”” but this has been an amazin...
Speaker | 534 c139-40 (Link to this contribution) The Tellers are in. I say to the hon. Gentleman, who has been here a long time—[Interruption.] I do ...
Christopher Chope | 534 c138-9 (Link to this contribution) In essence, the debate is about whether we are representatives of the people, or delegates of the Go...
Aidan Burley | 534 c137 (Link to this contribution) I think that our generation will be given that choice. I must consider the impact that passing this...
Speaker | 534 c136 (Link to this contribution) Order. The House must come to order. The hon. Gentleman has been waiting courteously; he deserves a ...
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 534 c134 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is speaking as though this were a Conservative party issue, but we can see from the d...
Martin Horwood | 534 c135 (Link to this contribution) We have discussed this already. The Conservative manifesto did not make a commitment to an in/out re...
Mark Reckless | 534 c134-5 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the constituents of East Surrey will have followed the speech made by my hon. Friend ...
Nick Boles | 534 c131 (Link to this contribution) I will not be giving way again. The second step is to start a renegotiation, which will probably ta...
Jim Shannon | 534 c132 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman aware of the national opinion poll today showing that 81% of those who voted C...
Nick Boles | 534 c131 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again yet. If an imminent referendum hangs over that negotiation, the Prime Min...
Nick Boles | 534 c131 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention, not least because he brings me to the conclusion that ...
Andrew Percy | 534 c130 (Link to this contribution) I can predict exactly what will happen. If we propose a referendum at a time of economic growth, eve...
Nick Boles | 534 c130 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend, but that was not my point. My point on timing is simply this: we need the pr...
David Morris | 534 c128-9 (Link to this contribution) I contribute to this debate as a Eurosceptic who believes that too many of our powers and freedoms a...
Mark Lazarowicz | 534 c129-30 (Link to this contribution) I had not intended to speak in the debate, but having sat through some three hours or so earlier and...
Robin Walker | 534 c127-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way again, I am afraid. I do not buy the argument that now is the wrong time. The m...
Sam Gyimah | 534 c127 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a very passionate case. Was not repatriating powers from Brussels in our last e...
Robin Walker | 534 c127 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for that intervention. I agree that that was in our manifesto. Unfortunately, that doe...
Richard Shepherd | 534 c125-6 (Link to this contribution) On 21 February 1992, there was a Second Reading debate on a private Member's Bill that I had introdu...
Robin Walker | 534 c126-7 (Link to this contribution) I have always been proud to be a moderate, one-nation Conservative and a supporter of this coalition...
Kris Hopkins | 534 c125 (Link to this contribution) No. The global economy is changing rapidly, and the focus of power is moving east. We need to be ab...
Kris Hopkins | 534 c124 (Link to this contribution) I, like many in the country, am angered at the continued erosion of our sovereignty, and at the ship...
Jim Shannon | 534 c124 (Link to this contribution) For 32 years the UK has been a net contributor, not a recipient, of EU moneys. If it were a pension ...
Kris Hopkins | 534 c124-5 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I look forward to campaigning for such a referendum...
Justin Tomlinson | 534 c125 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend explain why this was the second most popular issue on the e-petitions list?
Kris Hopkins | 534 c125 (Link to this contribution) As I said in response to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon), if there is such support for ...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c123 (Link to this contribution) I commend my hon. Friend for his long-standing convictions on these issues. He talks about a White P...
George Eustice | 534 c123-4 (Link to this contribution) It would come as soon as we had finished the negotiation, and if I had my way, it would happen very ...
George Eustice | 534 c124 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, but I have almost finished, and I do not want to eat into other people's time. Negotiat...
Charlie Elphicke | 534 c122 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend touches on a central point, which is that not all of us feel that we would be better ...
Graham Stuart | 534 c122 (Link to this contribution) I agree. Colleagues might say tonight with a wry smile that they, too, like the Prime Minister, beli...
Mark Reckless | 534 c121 (Link to this contribution) Can representative democracy work only if we keep our promises to the electorate? On this issue, all...
Graham Stuart | 534 c121-2 (Link to this contribution) With the greatest respect to my hon. Friend, that is one of the great myths that has been peddled. H...
George Eustice | 534 c123 (Link to this contribution) I was about to come on to precisely that. I do not accept the argument that nothing can be done unt...
George Eustice | 534 c122-3 (Link to this contribution) May I say how good it is that we are having this important debate this evening, but how disappointed...
Charlie Elphicke | 534 c123 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend set out how exactly he would cut that Gordian knot?
Lord McCabe | 534 c119-20 (Link to this contribution) Given what I want to say, Mr Deputy Speaker, I might, with all due respect, if I had had a choice, h...
Graham Stuart | 534 c120-1 (Link to this contribution) It is a great pleasure to participate in tonight's historic debate. We have heard many great, passio...
Douglas Carswell | 534 c119 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an important point. There has been a mood change in this country away from what...
Edward Leigh | 534 c102 (Link to this contribution) On the subject of reneging on promises, is not the crux of the matter this: if we live in a democrac...
Austin Mitchell | 534 c105-6 (Link to this contribution) I shall be voting for the motion tonight because I do not want to be part of what has become a three...
John Baron | 534 c106 (Link to this contribution) I, for one, shall be supporting tonight's motion for one simple but important reason: the very natur...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 534 c103-4 (Link to this contribution) I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Moreover, whatever people think about referendums—whether they thin...
Lord Redwood | 534 c104-5 (Link to this contribution) There have been many powerful speeches already rightly saying that this debate is about democracy. D...
John Baron | 534 c107 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely, and my hon. Friend is well placed to see that for himself, sitting as he does on the Eur...
James Clappison | 534 c107 (Link to this contribution) That is a valuable point. Is it not the case that legislation regularly comes forward within the ext...
John Baron | 534 c106-7 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that the majority in the House can agree with that view. Let us look at some of the other...
Martin Horwood | 534 c108 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way and we always enjoy his speeches, but will he cle...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 534 c107-8 (Link to this contribution) It is amazing how united the Conservative party has been so far today. We had a Eurosceptic statemen...
Ian Swales | 534 c108 (Link to this contribution) Is my hon. Friend aware that one of Tesco's most profitable areas is the part of eastern Europe that...
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 534 c108 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving me an extra minute—it is kind of Gloucestershire to g...
Denis MacShane | 534 c107 (Link to this contribution) In the spirit of the hon. Member for Broxbourne (Mr Walker), tonight I shall vote for parliamentary ...
Speaker | 534 c107 (Link to this contribution) Order. He has not said anything yet.
Jacob Rees-Mogg | 534 c109 (Link to this contribution) Tesco, great company that it is, is also very popular in Thailand, whose application for membership ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c109 (Link to this contribution) When I made my maiden speech, Ann Widdecombe had spoken just before me and she got a cheer. At the t...
Sam Gyimah | 534 c109 (Link to this contribution) No one can really know what will happen in a referendum. In 1975, the public seemed to be against th...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 534 c111 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to rise to support the motion tonight. The House will know that I am not a ““usual ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c110-1 (Link to this contribution) I want this Parliament, not Brussels, to decide our employment laws. I have every confidence that th...
George Howarth | 534 c110 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend feel comfortable being bracketed with those such as the hon. Member for Harwich ...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c110 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. I was the agent for the no vote in Bedfordshire in 1975, so ...
Edward Leigh | 534 c110 (Link to this contribution) Indeed, and Mrs Leigh certainly did not have a vote, along with 84% of the present population. Do th...
Edward Leigh | 534 c110 (Link to this contribution) Surely the point is also that, in 1975, the hon. Gentleman had a vote, I had a vote and my hon. Frie...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c109-10 (Link to this contribution) I entirely accept that point, but I believe that the British people have become wiser about this mat...
Priti Patel | 534 c111 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful, personal statement to the House on his position on the motion. ...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 534 c111 (Link to this contribution) I could not have put it better myself. Hon. Members have made the point that a person has to be ove...
Caroline Lucas | 534 c112-4 (Link to this contribution) My starting point is that there are good democratic reasons for those in favour of our continued mem...
Lord Jackson of Peterborough | 534 c112 (Link to this contribution) Absolutely; I agree with my hon. Friend. When is the right time? Net contributions of £9 billion are...
Charlotte Leslie | 534 c114 (Link to this contribution) The motion is tragically timed, because it pits against each other the equally valid causes of ensur...
Glyn Davies | 534 c114 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak in this very important debate. It is, in fact,...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 534 c115 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows that it would take at least 18 months to reach the point at which a referen...
Glyn Davies | 534 c114-5 (Link to this contribution) I agree with my hon. Friend. I am in conflict with many of my colleagues who have spoken today about...
Glyn Davies | 534 c115 (Link to this contribution) I accept what the hon. Gentleman has said, but I think we should be much clearer about both those is...
Nadine Dorries | 534 c111 (Link to this contribution) We have heard many Members say this evening that now is not the right time. Does my hon. Friend agre...
Andrew Percy | 534 c116 (Link to this contribution) Surely the hon. Gentleman accepts that we can agree a new treaty that does exactly what many Members...
Michael Connarty | 534 c117-8 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman knows the rules. I have given way often enough and I have had my extra two minute...
Michael Connarty | 534 c117 (Link to this contribution) I do not have time to give way, as I have given way twice and I know how the system works. It is cl...
Michael Connarty | 534 c117 (Link to this contribution) I voted in the 1975 referendum, and I voted yes. I did not vote in favour of the Common Market; I vo...
Richard Drax | 534 c118 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that the reason why we are having more and more referendums is that the p...
Douglas Carswell | 534 c118 (Link to this contribution) I shall try to do so over the next three minutes, and I am grateful for that thoughtful and erudite ...
Charles Walker | 534 c118 (Link to this contribution) Would my hon. Friend like to expand on that point?
Douglas Carswell | 534 c118 (Link to this contribution) For 40 years, we have left Europe policy to Ministers and to mandarins—to a tiny Whitehall elite. Lo...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 534 c117 (Link to this contribution) If this referendum were held and its result clearly expressed the settled will of the people, would ...
Michael Connarty | 534 c116-7 (Link to this contribution) Let me give the following advice to the hon. Gentleman, and to the Scottish National party Member wh...
Jake Berry | 534 c90 (Link to this contribution) It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey). I congratulate the Backbench B...
Paul Blomfield | 534 c90 (Link to this contribution) Some hon. Members have cited the feeling of people in this country. Is the hon. Gentleman aware that...
Jake Berry | 534 c90 (Link to this contribution) I am aware of that polling, and that is why I do not support today's motion.
John Hemming | 534 c90 (Link to this contribution) I understand that the e-petition has only 36,000 signatures, but a paper petition has more than 100,...
Jake Berry | 534 c90-1 (Link to this contribution) In my home town of Liverpool people would be burned for witchcraft for signing anything on the inter...
Jake Berry | 534 c91 (Link to this contribution) It is the Government's policy. We heard the Prime Minister give commitments today on the referendum ...
Jake Berry | 534 c91 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I do not have time to give way. Failure to honour commitments on the repatriation of po...
Wayne David | 534 c91 (Link to this contribution) Let me be clear: I do not support today's motion because I believe that it is in Britain's national ...
William Cash | 534 c86 (Link to this contribution) A few months ago the Prime Minister asked me after a debate to write to him about my views on the Eu...
Steve Baker | 534 c86 (Link to this contribution) I would have voted yes in 1975, but does my hon. Friend agree that the EU has gone far beyond that w...
William Cash | 534 c87-8 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree. In fact, I think that three parties are involved, and the point applies to all o...
Baroness Hoey | 534 c88 (Link to this contribution) I am not sure when the Foreign Secretary has to leave, but he is going to a very important conferenc...
William Cash | 534 c86-7 (Link to this contribution) Yes, indeed, and I will go further: the EU has created a situation in which it actually damages our ...
Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park | 534 c87 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech. Does he not think that, because the debate has been ge...
Sheryll Murray | 534 c89 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Lady agree that the one industry in this country that has suffered for the past 30 yea...
Baroness Hoey | 534 c89-90 (Link to this contribution) I do not understand why my party, which wants a change in the fishery policy, are not allowing a fre...
Baroness Hoey | 534 c89 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not, at this point—and not to you. A number of points have been made, and I want to make...
Nadine Dorries | 534 c94 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) touched on this point. If the House voted yes tonight, then...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c94 (Link to this contribution) I do agree. They could not really treat us much worse. From my perspective and that of my constitue...
Martin Horwood | 534 c94 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman think we would be better off without the European arrest warrant, which brou...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) As far as I am concerned, the hon. Gentleman and his Liberal Democrat colleagues are forcing this co...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c94 (Link to this contribution) I will give way when I have told my hon. Friend that in the previous Parliament the membership fee w...
Emma Reynolds | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) If so many people in our country want to leave the European Union, why did the only party to advocat...
Michael Connarty | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) I hate to continue the process of lecturing, which my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow South West ...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) With the increasing ratchet of the terms and conditions of European Union membership, that is now a ...
John Hemming | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with ever closer union, but I do believe in remaining in the EU and will oppose the m...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c95 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is perfectly at liberty to do that. Thanks in part to his good offices, we are ha...
Lord Redwood | 534 c92 (Link to this contribution) A very large number of jobs in China depend on exporting goods to the European Union. China is not a...
Wayne David | 534 c92 (Link to this contribution) The crucial thing is what happens to the jobs of people in this country. Many of the inward investor...
Andrew Percy | 534 c91 (Link to this contribution) I am interested to hear what the hon. Gentleman says. However, the argument is not about whether we ...
Wayne David | 534 c92 (Link to this contribution) I believe that our place is firmly inside the European Union. We had a vote in this country to join ...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c94 (Link to this contribution) Many of us would like the European Union to be even more distant than it is. The problem is that its...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c93 (Link to this contribution) The big mistake that the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr David) has made is to believe that Euroscept...
Mark Lazarowicz | 534 c93 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman says that people are concerned about how they are being treated by the European U...
Sheryll Murray | 534 c92 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman tell us why he will not let the British people have a say so that they can d...
Wayne David | 534 c93 (Link to this contribution) I respectfully point out that there are such things as election manifestos. The Labour party, for ex...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 534 c99 (Link to this contribution) I want to address the politics of this question, and in doing so pose the question why this issue, a...
Lord Field of Birkenhead | 534 c100 (Link to this contribution) I disagree with that. Part of the reason for rearranging our procedures in the House and giving the ...
Andrew Percy | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Andrew Percy | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Martin Horwood | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I will not give way again, otherwise I will be out of time. May I also remind some Cons...
Stephen Phillips | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?
Martin Horwood | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not, I am sorry. Let us look at some of the options on offer in the motion. We have the ...
Speaker | 534 c99 (Link to this contribution) Order. Please resume your seats. We have had 23 speakers so far, and considerably more Members than ...
Martin Horwood | 534 c98-9 (Link to this contribution) I am sorry, I have taken my two interventions. What I believe all factions of Eurosceptics are real...
Martin Horwood | 534 c98 (Link to this contribution) I thank the hon. Gentleman, but I have with me the list of how Members voted on our proposal for an ...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c97-8 (Link to this contribution) I recall that debate about referendums at the time of the Lisbon treaty. One got the impression that...
Martin Horwood | 534 c97 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman has anticipated my next sentence. There has been a lot of talk about ...
Stephen Phillips | 534 c97 (Link to this contribution) I think that the 100,000 people who signed the e-petition would like an answer to a very simple ques...
Stuart Bell | 534 c96 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to follow the hon. Member for Kettering (Mr Hollobone). He made a ...
Philip Hollobone | 534 c95-6 (Link to this contribution) In my election literature in Kettering and in my campaign speeches and hustings, I made it quite cle...
Martin Horwood | 534 c97 (Link to this contribution) This is an important debate. In a sense, I commend the 100,000 people who brought it about for bring...
Stuart Bell | 534 c96-7 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman can sit down because I am not giving way to him. Teesside is the third largest p...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c102 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Member for Middlesbrough (Sir Stuart Bell) agrees that that will be forced through on a spu...
Martin Horwood | 534 c102 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c101-2 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that point. We know from experience that we cannot rely even on...
Neil Parish | 534 c101 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with my hon. Friend. I spent 10 years in the European Parliament and watched powers...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c101 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that point, but this issue has come to the fore because it is ab...
Baroness Bray of Coln | 534 c101 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend accept that although the country is undoubtedly interested in all matters EU, it...
Roger Godsiff | 534 c81-2 (Link to this contribution) I regret the fact that the Government's business managers managed to turn inconvenience into a full-...
Robert Walter | 534 c80-1 (Link to this contribution) I will not give way any more; I really need to get on. The European Commission and the European Par...
Lord Redwood | 534 c82 (Link to this contribution) Has not my right hon. and learned Friend noticed that the motion refers to trade and co-operation to...
Malcolm Rifkind | 534 c82 (Link to this contribution) I am against the motion, in part because I think the timing, given the financial chaos in Europe, is...
John Baron | 534 c82 (Link to this contribution) Will my right hon. and learned Friend give way?
Malcolm Rifkind | 534 c82 (Link to this contribution) No, I am sorry, that is not the case because present Conservative policy is about sharing sovereignt...
Malcolm Rifkind | 534 c82-3 (Link to this contribution) Not at this moment, if my hon. Friend will allow me. There is a third route and we are already part...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c83 (Link to this contribution) My right hon. and learned Friend talks about renegotiating and repatriating powers. What powers and ...
Malcolm Rifkind | 534 c83 (Link to this contribution) As I said, the idea of an à la carte Europe is already partly there, but it should not just be a pri...
Michael Connarty | 534 c85 (Link to this contribution) It was so close to the Lisbon treaty that I assumed they had read it. Can my hon. Friend tell me whe...
Ian Davidson | 534 c84-5 (Link to this contribution) I can think of no other issue where the gap between the political elites and ordinary people in this...
Malcolm Rifkind | 534 c83-4 (Link to this contribution) I have already given way twice. I am sorry, I cannot give way again without losing my own time. Tho...
Nadine Dorries | 534 c85 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that one of the reasons why British people are so engaged on this matt...
Ian Davidson | 534 c85 (Link to this contribution) For another minute, yes I will.
Nadine Dorries | 534 c85 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Ian Davidson | 534 c85 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for giving me an extra minute. I also think that those who argue that this i...
Ian Davidson | 534 c85-6 (Link to this contribution) I agree with that. They would like to see that because what we need to do is move on from the debate...
William Cash | 534 c80 (Link to this contribution) I just want to mention to my hon. Friend that my father was killed in the war in Normandy and I am s...
Robert Walter | 534 c79-80 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right—it was a political argument. What I am sad about is that ther...
Robert Walter | 534 c79 (Link to this contribution) May I reassure hon. Members on both sides of the House that I shall be voting tonight not in respons...
Natascha Engel | 534 c78-9 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little progress and then I will be happy to give way. The architects of the European ...
Natascha Engel | 534 c78 (Link to this contribution) That is a fabulous speech to follow, so I thank you for calling me, Madam Deputy Speaker. I wish, no...
Speaker | 534 c78 (Link to this contribution) You have to keep an eye on the hon. Gentleman. He has very succinct speeches.
Robert Walter | 534 c80 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way any more. The world has shrunk. More than ever, we travel, we trade and we liv...
Robert Walter | 534 c80 (Link to this contribution) I hope that that is not correct and I remind my hon. Friend that he and I first met when we were bot...
Anne Main | 534 c75 (Link to this contribution) I will give way if the hon. Gentleman is going to explain the Liberal Democrat position.
Martin Horwood | 534 c76 (Link to this contribution) I have explained our position, but I want to ask the hon. Lady about hers. When the Liberal Democrat...
Anne Main | 534 c76 (Link to this contribution) I ask the hon. Gentleman to join us tonight to say, ““This is now what we should be doing.”” He may ...
Lord Cryer | 534 c76-7 (Link to this contribution) It is good to see the Foreign Secretary still in his place before he dashes off to this urgent, mass...
Ian Jnr Paisley | 534 c77 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman agree that those antics by our neighbours have increased the cynicism toward...
Lord Cryer | 534 c77-8 (Link to this contribution) Yes, I would agree with that. As I believe we all recognise, there is generally a profound cynicism ...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c65 (Link to this contribution) It was the hon. Gentleman's own Prime Minister who went to Brussels last year asserting that there w...
Robert Halfon | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) Why does the right hon. Gentleman persist in treating the electorate as fools by describing the Lisb...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) Some of the frustration and disappointment I hear from the Government Benches would be better direct...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman says that we should concentrate on reforming the EU from within, but what h...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c64-5 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman takes an honourable position with which I disagree: that Britain's best interests...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) I am happy to give way to a Liberal Democrat.
Martin Horwood | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is making an unfortunately partisan speech and misrepresenting the clear Li...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c64 (Link to this contribution) I think that the person who started with a partisan speech was the Foreign Secretary, who was at pai...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) I have great sympathy with that point. For many months before and after the election, the Conservati...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) I want to deal with business before pleasure. That the Liberal Democrats take strong, principled sta...
Jim Cunningham | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) Does my right hon. Friend agree that Government Members seriously underestimated the economic situat...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) I am glad that at least a degree of truth is entering our discussions—it was suggested earlier that ...
Michael Connarty | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) There is a lot of talk about being honest with the British people. My right hon. Friend has exposed ...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) We waited in vain for answers to the Leader of the Opposition's questions on the British Government'...
Andrew Bridgen | 534 c63 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that the previous Labour Government gave away a huge amount of ...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c62 (Link to this contribution) First, the hon. Gentleman could have directed that question at the Foreign Secretary. Secondly, it i...
Wayne David | 534 c62 (Link to this contribution) Would it not be far better for the Prime Minister of this country to argue the case for a growth str...
John Baron | 534 c62 (Link to this contribution) May I suggest that the right hon. Gentleman is creating an Aunt Sally by talking about the economics...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) The global financial crisis that was suffered in 2007 is hardly news to anybody in the House. Indeed...
Graham Stuart | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman accept his role in the corrosive state of public mistrust in politics,...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) First, the inconvenient truth for the hon. Gentleman is that there is no EU constitution. It was rej...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) I am keen to make a little progress, then I will give way again. What is proposed on the Order Pape...
Nadhim Zahawi | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) Is the right hon. Gentleman's party's policy still to take this country into the euro?
Douglas Alexander | 534 c62 (Link to this contribution) It was the Labour Government who judged—
Douglas Alexander | 534 c62 (Link to this contribution) Just let me answer the question. The economics were not right to enter the euro; the economics are n...
William Cash | 534 c60 (Link to this contribution) I would be most grateful if the shadow Foreign Secretary would answer the question that I put to the...
Speaker | 534 c61 (Link to this contribution) Order. May I just remind the hon. Gentleman that I have never been in government, and fortunately ne...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c60 (Link to this contribution) Talking of absurd scares, it is now 12 years since the right hon. Gentleman pronounced the death of ...
Nadhim Zahawi | 534 c59 (Link to this contribution) Does the Foreign Secretary agree that, whether in business or in politics, the best strategies end u...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c59 (Link to this contribution) I absolutely agree with that. I reinforce the point that this is the wrong proposition at the wrong ...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c59 (Link to this contribution) I happened to bump into the chairman of the Electoral Commission today and he did not rule out a thr...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c59 (Link to this contribution) There is certainly no proposal at the moment to set up such an EU institution. That is an intergover...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c60 (Link to this contribution) I will make a little progress, then I will be happy to give way. Let me share with the House the de...
Lord Redwood | 534 c60 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman not agree that if Britain seeks a better deal, Germany will not turn a...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c59-60 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure, as always, to speak after the Foreign Secretary. This debate takes place at a time...
Graham Stuart | 534 c60 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c58 (Link to this contribution) It will not be necessary to get the DVD—it is on YouTube. I can assure the hon. Lady that my positio...
Anne Main | 534 c74 (Link to this contribution) It is a delight to follow the right hon. Member for Belfast North (Mr Dodds), who made an impassione...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 534 c73-4 (Link to this contribution) I cannot give way again, as I do not want to lose any time. The right hon. Gentleman may well have a...
Lord Redwood | 534 c74 (Link to this contribution) As my hon. Friend noted, when the Liberal Democrats were in opposition they read opinion polls to ch...
Lord McCrea of Magherafelt and Cookstown | 534 c72 (Link to this contribution) As the majority of the United Kingdom electorate have never voted on our relationship with the rest ...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 534 c72 (Link to this contribution) I entirely agree, and I think that people in all parts of the United Kingdom who are listening to th...
Denis MacShane | 534 c73 (Link to this contribution) Will the right hon. Gentleman give way?
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 534 c72 (Link to this contribution) I will address the arguments advanced by the Foreign Secretary shortly. The Democratic Unionist par...
Anne Main | 534 c75 (Link to this contribution) I shall not give way to Liberal Democrat Members, as they can speak for themselves when they make th...
Adam Holloway | 534 c71 (Link to this contribution) Obviously, I completely agree with my hon. Friend. We do not have the right to give away powers ent...
William Cash | 534 c71 (Link to this contribution) Many people in the country, knowing of the integrity and the honesty that is reflected in my hon. Fr...
Adam Holloway | 534 c70-1 (Link to this contribution) I will not, actually. The Deputy Prime Minister was even louder in his protestations. He said:"““Th...
Mark Lazarowicz | 534 c70 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Adam Holloway | 534 c69-70 (Link to this contribution) It may have something to do with the fact that she lives in the north of Scotland. This country dev...
Denis MacShane | 534 c69 (Link to this contribution) Surely what the hon. Gentleman's mother does not want to admit is that he is a Conservative Member o...
Anne Marie Morris | 534 c72 (Link to this contribution) Does the right hon. Gentleman therefore agree that, in the words of Gandhi:"““Evolution of democracy...
Lord Dodds of Duncairn | 534 c71-2 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr Holloway). I salute him and commend wha...
Adam Holloway | 534 c71 (Link to this contribution) No, I really cannot give way now. Members can repay the confidence placed in them by their constitu...
Kelvin Hopkins | 534 c68 (Link to this contribution) I was active in the Labour party at that time and I voted no. My hon. Friend might remember that the...
David Crausby | 534 c67-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not be voting for the motion this evening, not because I do not believe that the British elec...
Graham Stringer | 534 c68 (Link to this contribution) I was on the same side as my hon. Friend in 1975 and I voted to come out of the EEC as it then was, ...
David Crausby | 534 c68 (Link to this contribution) Things have certainly changed. The 1975 referendum yes campaign was all about arguing that leaving E...
Michael Connarty | 534 c69 (Link to this contribution) I often find that people list all the things that they are against when they make an argument, but g...
David Crausby | 534 c68-9 (Link to this contribution) I will come to that. Voters were deceived by promises of huge increases in national prosperity and s...
Adam Holloway | 534 c69 (Link to this contribution) I had no real background in politics when I was elected in 2005. I had been a soldier and a televisi...
David Crausby | 534 c69 (Link to this contribution) I do, but my point is that we will not resolve this issue until we have sought the consent of the Br...
Denis MacShane | 534 c69 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Denis MacShane | 534 c65 (Link to this contribution) Can my right hon. Friend confirm that under Margaret Thatcher the CAP took 70% of the EEC-EU budgets...
Andrew Percy | 534 c66 (Link to this contribution) Is not the point that as far as pro-Europeans are concerned there will never be a right time for a r...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c65-6 (Link to this contribution) I understand that I have only five minutes, so I will take only two interventions—if people want to ...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c65 (Link to this contribution) No, I shall make some progress. By default or design, the Government's habit of sitting on the side...
Douglas Alexander | 534 c65 (Link to this contribution) I concur with the bipartisan character of that intervention. The Prime Minister's isolation results ...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c66 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes his point eloquently. He and others signed up to a common market, but that has ...
Bob Stewart | 534 c66 (Link to this contribution) I was old enough to vote in 1975, and I voted for joining the European Union for economic reasons an...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c66 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes an excellent point, as always. We have had referendums on a range of issues, wh...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c67 (Link to this contribution) Forgive me; I will not have any more time if I give way. No politician should have anything to fear...
Speaker | 534 c138 (Link to this contribution) Order. The House must come to order. It will want to hear Mr Christopher Chope.
Mark Reckless | 534 c136 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is quite right. We have the opportunity this evening to give our constituents that re...
Mark Pritchard | 534 c131 (Link to this contribution) I commend my hon. Friend for his consistency, and although I do not agree with him, I respect him fo...
Baroness Stuart of Edgbaston | 534 c102 (Link to this contribution) About halfway through this evening's debate, it might be helpful to remind the House that the motion...
Harriett Baldwin | 534 c106 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that the right time to have a referendum was on the Lisbon treaty, which w...
Michael Connarty | 534 c115-6 (Link to this contribution) This is an interesting debate, and I apologise for having missed a few of the contributions. It is a...
David Nuttall | 534 c49 (Link to this contribution) The situation we find ourselves in is rather like that of someone who has boarded a slow train going...
Lord Hague of Richmond | 534 c53 (Link to this contribution) I have just stated my view, which is that all the treaties of the past 20 years would have been caug...
Nick Boles | 534 c130 (Link to this contribution) I have listened with great attention to all of the speeches for the past five hours, with the occasi...
Mark Reckless | 534 c91 (Link to this contribution) Did UKIP not win more votes in more constituencies than the number by which we did not achieve a maj...
Graham Stuart | 534 c99-100 (Link to this contribution) I know that the right hon. Gentleman is very fair-minded, so I put it to him that there is a massive...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c102 (Link to this contribution) I hope the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, but I have given way twice. The same thing is happening ...
Bernard Jenkin | 534 c100-1 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. Member for Birkenhead (Mr Field), who has long made measur...
Mark Lazarowicz | 534 c79 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman reminds us that the debate about joining the European Economic Community back in ...
Anne Main | 534 c75 (Link to this contribution) I am not going to give way to my colleague from the Liberal Democrats, because their speakers can de...
David Winnick | 534 c139 (Link to this contribution) On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Is there any reason why the vote is being delayed?
Aidan Burley | 534 c137-8 (Link to this contribution) I will not. At a time when business is crying out for stability, a referendum would move it in tota...
Aidan Burley | 534 c137 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not. Those business men's fear, and mine, is that the announcement of a referendum, invo...
Aidan Burley | 534 c136-7 (Link to this contribution) Thank you, Mr Speaker. It is clear that what was put to the people in 1975—we should remember that ...
Andrew Percy | 534 c137 (Link to this contribution) I respect my hon. Friend's views. Like him, I was born after the last referendum on the matter, but ...
Sam Gyimah | 534 c133-4 (Link to this contribution) I have listened to the debate for the past five hours, and it is clear that we on the Conservative B...
James Clappison | 534 c132-3 (Link to this contribution) This has been a good debate with some outstanding speeches, particularly from my hon. Friends the Me...
Mark Reckless | 534 c135 (Link to this contribution) The Conservative party had offered a referendum on Lisbon. The Liberal Democrats had offered a refer...
Sam Gyimah | 534 c134 (Link to this contribution) I thank my hon. Friend for that. I am not speaking as though this were a Conservative party issue, b...
Aidan Burley | 534 c136 (Link to this contribution) I support the principle of having an EU referendum, yet I will not support the motion. Let me explai...
Sheryll Murray | 534 c135 (Link to this contribution) I voted in the last referendum in 1974. It was the first time I had—[Interruption.] The question was...
Martin Vickers | 534 c131-2 (Link to this contribution) Many Members have referred to the part that they played in the 1975 referendum, and sadly I am one o...
Martin Vickers | 534 c132 (Link to this contribution) I agree entirely with the hon. Gentleman. The Government and the Opposition parties ignore the elect...
Subjects
EU withdrawal European Union EU internal trade Economic and monetary union EU internal relations Referendums Sovereignty UK membership of EU Government bills
Link
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