European Union Bill

It is not only an incredible privilege and honour to listen to the superb eloquence of my hon. Friend the Member for North East Somerset (Jacob Rees-Mogg), but an even greater privilege and honour to follow him. Nevertheless, on this occasion I do not follow him in the sense of agreeing with the new clause that he is propounding. I put it to him in an intervention that it was ironic that he was seeking to use the unelected Chamber as the guardian of the people's democracy. His answer was, ““Well, look at the preamble to the 1911 Act.”” I was reminded of the dictum of St Augustine of Hippo, who, as I am sure he knows only too well, said, ““Make me pure, Lord—but not yet.””