Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It is to the honour of our Parliament that since 1945, under different Administrations, we have initiated negotiations for more international treaties than in the previous 500 years of British history. I am aware of the treaty of London of 1604, which settled the big disputes with Spain that had bedevilled relationships in the 16th century. The glory of Britain is that it has sought to weave a sometimes tangled and messy web, but a web none the less, of international law that can bind together nations with great differences. What we heard from the Conservative Front Bench tonight was the authentic voice of those deep south Senators who rejected the treaty of Versailles and of those who have rejected the proposals for an effective, binding Kyoto and then second Kyoto treaty. What the Conservatives propose is to stop dead in its tracks any future advance that would allow Britain to exercise some say over the destiny of our common continent through the mechanism of limited shared sovereignty. I hope that our friends in Croatia hear this debate, because the Conservatives are saying that there would have to be a referendum on any accession treaty for Croatia. They are certainly saying that if Turkey can meet the criteria for joining the EU, as I hope, there would have to be a referendum on that accession treaty. That is another debate, but I put it to the Conservative party, which I believe is sincere on the Turkish question at any rate, that I would not wish to unleash in Britain a plebiscite about a majority Muslim country joining the EU.