Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill

It was a sadness that the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) gave us such a short speech. He was not able to explain the content of his amendments and new clause. All the amendments are impracticable, wrong and unnecessary. They are impracticable because, as we heard from several hon. Members, they are impossibly imprecise in their language and confused in their effect. For instance, amendment 125 refers to""treaties which transfer competences from the United Kingdom Parliament to the European Union"." On the surface, that seems clear, but it is meretricious. No treaty transfers competence away from Parliament; Parliament always remains sovereign. We could, if we chose to do so as a Parliament, repeal the European Communities Act 1972 tomorrow. [Interruption.] I note that two Members said that that would be a good idea.