Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

The hon. Gentleman has taken a principled stance on this issue over many years. At the time of the Maastricht debate, I was one of the backroom boys for the Liberal Democrats who worked on the treaty as it went through this House as legislation, and I remember the very night of the vote to which he refers. However, we have moved on from the Maastricht debate. There have been a number of other treaties—the Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon treaties, in particular—and the mood of the British people has changed, so we must go beyond a treaty-based referendum.