Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

The hon. Gentleman makes a perfectly fair point. Of course, Parliament can decide to have referendums on everything. The hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton adequately demolished the redrafted Conservative proposal that would open the way for anybody to go to court to demand a referendum, as the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg) suggested. I have sat in this House while the Conservatives opposed the European arrest warrant with a great deal of vigour and energy. Doubtless they would have liked a referendum on that, and it might not have been implemented, in which case some of our terrorist gentlemen would have escaped being shipped back fast to face justice in our courts. Certainly, the Conservatives vehemently opposed the bits of the European Union—they were in a treaty but given effect by European Council decisions—that deal with European defence. I am sure that they would have loved a referendum on those matters, as would The Sun, the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph, and they might well have been defeated. Talk to any partner or ally—such as the State department in the US or their army generals—and they all think that the development of strategic thinking and policy at the European level is a very positive step. I politely ask that we uphold the sovereignty of Parliament. Hon. Members should wean themselves off the notion that plebiscites are somehow an adequate replacement for Parliament. Tonight we vote to reject the obsessive anti-European tone emanating from all those on the Conservative Front Bench, even if it does not go as far as the hon. Members for Stone (Mr. Cash) and for Shipley (Philip Davies), and the Better Off Out Group and the rest of them. We should say no to these ill thought out amendments, no to the amendment to the amendment, and no to the contempt that the Leader of the Opposition has shown by withdrawing his pledge for a referendum. We should say yes—as I have argued in my party with my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester, East, who is no longer in his place—to restoring the power and sovereignty of this House and begin to bring politics back to life in this country.