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European Union Referendum Bill

I am most grateful to the Minister for having responded in such a thoughtful way to this amendment, although I have to say that in earlier parts of his statement, I thought he was tempted back again to the reductio ad absurdum he employed on the previous group of amendments. However, we moved on to better ground and he addressed some of the arguments very well. He was very careful, though some others in this debate have been less careful, not to predict that we would know who voted in which way in the referendum, and be able to say, “It was the foreigners that did it”. Other Members of this House seem not to know that we have a secret ballot, but we do.

9.45 pm

On the question of numbers, I have a feeling that a really large misunderstanding lurks beneath the water. That is, the 2.7 million—I think he said—at the latest count, presumably includes all the Irish who actually have the vote in this country. In that case, the figures of my noble friend Lord Green will not make much sense, because they already do. As far as I am concerned—and there is nothing on the Marshalled List that suggests the contrary—I will have nothing whatever to do with the proposition that Commonwealth citizens and Irish citizens who have the vote should be deprived of it. That would be absolutely appalling. The anomaly is created by having the Commonwealth citizens in and the EU citizens out. I would like to

remove the anomaly, but not remove the Commonwealth citizens, and least of all the Irish, because removing the Irish would strike at the foundation of our relationship with Ireland and the relationship between the two parts of the island in an absolutely disastrous way.

In moving this amendment—I shall shortly withdraw, it of course—I never intended to do that, and I do not intend to do that. I am merely suggesting that the anomaly should be rectified. I think that some of the parallels being drawn with other member states honestly do not stack up. On the question about us having the vote in other people’s accession referendums, it is just not like for like. After all, these are countries that are outside the European Union deciding whether to join it. That is completely different from a major country—one of the four biggest countries in the European Union—deciding to leave after more than 40 years. I use the word “consequential” perhaps a little bit too often, but it is a decision with consequences that far outweigh any of these other points. With that, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.