European Union Bill

My Lords, I support the amendment in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Triesman and Lord Liddle. I could hardly do otherwise as it is an exact replica of the amendment that I moved in Committee. I thought it was a good thing then and I that it is a good thing now. In Committee, I made a general case for Ministers—the amendment refers to the general case—making a positive case for the European Union. We have been members of the European Union for 40 years, but government Ministers have consistently been hesitant about putting the case for the European Union. Unfortunately, that includes members of my own party. For example, Tony Blair, when he was Prime Minister, was far better at making speeches about the EU and British membership when he was on the continent than when he was in the United Kingdom. One of the main reasons for that was that he was frightened of the Eurosceptic press. He was frightened of the reaction in the Murdoch press. Any time he said anything positive about the European Union, he was almost always in trouble. I still remember the headline in the Sun, asking, "““Is this the most dangerous man in Britain?””," when he said that there might be a good case for Britain joining the euro. It was not surprising that he was a bit more cautious afterwards about making that kind of speech. One reason for the disconnect that the noble Lord, Lord Risby, has just talked about is that successive generations of British Ministers have failed to make the case for British membership of the European Union. Of course I agree with the noble Lord that there must not be foolish propaganda that can easily be knocked down. However, that is no excuse for Ministers not making a positive case based on the facts. Such a case should also admit some of the weaknesses. It does not have to be propaganda; it has to be a genuine case. I congratulated David Lidington, the Minister for Europe, who explained very well in a Written Answer why he believed that European Union membership was in our national interest. The noble Lord, Lord Sassoon, from that Dispatch Box, said in very positive terms following a Eurosceptic attack from somewhere behind me that the United Kingdom got more out of the EU than it put in. It is good to hear Ministers with the courage to say that. I was delighted that the noble Lord, Lord Howell, in answer to my speech, stressed the need for the Government, "““to be a more vocal and effective advocate of the European Union””.—[Official Report, 23/5/11; col. 1646.]" That is absolutely right, and I hope that he and his colleague next to him will continue to do that, because it is their responsibility. However, this is not just their responsibility but the responsibility of those much higher up—the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Foreign Secretary. I want to hear them all make constructive speeches about the EU—not spinning speeches and saying ““game, set and match””, as John Major was reputed to have said when he came back from Maastricht. We need to hear the case for why membership of the EU is in Britain’s interests, because if you ask the British people whether they are aware of some of the benefits, they are not because they are never told about those benefits, which certainly never appear in most of the newspapers, and Ministers are frightened to mention them. That was the purpose of my amendment, and I want the coalition to live up to the constructive part of its agreement on Europe. We know what the negative part is; we have heard it time and time again in our debates. The case is that you will have a lot of referendums that will re-establish the connect between the British people and the European Union. However, there is another responsibility on Ministers: to put the constructive case for the European Union. That was the purpose of my amendment and is partly the purpose of the amendment moved by my noble friend.