European Union (Information, etc.) Bill [HL]

I hope that this is a convenient moment for me to say that I remain somewhat shocked by the comments of the noble Lord, Lord Pearson. I emphasise again—it came out on Second Reading—that this clause deals with those aspects of the more multiple twinning arrangements, the trilateral ones which take place between more than two towns or communities in two different member states, and the specific special exercises envisaged where they obtain modest amounts of European Commission funding to have joint conferences on particular matters. Examples were given in the official Commission documents, which are freely available in the Library if anyone wants to see them. I hope that the noble Lord will consider kindly withdrawing his opposition to the clause, which is wholly innocuous and innocent. It in no way interferes with bilateral twinning arrangements either in Europe or elsewhere, which go on all over the place, including Africa, where there are many twinning arrangements with British towns. It is a separate matter but one which needs some encouragement and fits neatly into this extremely modest Bill.