European Union Bill

I fully agree with the noble Viscount, Lord Trenchard. I have listened carefully to all the points that eminent legal and other brains have put forward, including those from no less than former high eminences from the FCO. But I am a former Member of the other place and I prefer to put my confidence in the House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee of which I used to be a member. The committee suggests: "““The arguments over binding future Parliaments are interesting and the debate will continue among constitutional lawyers and experts. But, in our view, as the UK does not have a single codified constitutional document from which legislative power is derived, there are no unambiguously constitutional ‘higher’ laws. All Parliaments legislate for the future. Laws passed by one Parliament do not contain a sunset clause at the Dissolution. The real point is whether a government can, in law, make it difficult for a future Parliament to amend or repeal the legislation it has passed; in our view it cannot. Our conclusion therefore is straightforward—that an Act of Parliament applies until it is repealed””." As Professor Hartley commented to the committee: "““[T]he Bill, assuming it becomes law, will be an Act of Parliament. We know that Parliament cannot bind future Parliaments, so a future Parliament could always change it. It could repeal it—totally repeal it—or amend it, or repeal it in part. I don't think that this Bill limits the powers of Parliament, any more than the European Communities Act 1972 does—the original one””." I agree with that profoundly. I also welcome and support the coalition Government’s commitment to the use of a sunset clause in certain types of regulation—secondary legislation. It is a very good idea because it gives greater scrutiny of secondary legislation, which so often has just flowed through and frustrated many of us who wish that it did not. I congratulate the Government on their Sunsetting Regulations: Guidance, which was published in April 2010. The core purpose of this Bill is greater scrutiny by Parliament and the British people, as well as greater attempts at explanation by the Government of the day. The referendum in Ireland has already been mentioned. I recall very well going to Ireland and promoting the knowledge that flowed throughout Ireland during its referendum. I cannot allow the moment of this sunset clause to pass without reminding noble Lords that in a 2009 survey, which took place at the time of the previous European Parliament elections and was published in April 2011, a huge number of people in the United Kingdom—81.4 per cent—believed that treaty changes should be decided by referendums—no less than 81 per cent, nearly 82 per cent. In all but two EU member states, more than 50 per cent of respondents thought the same. The level of dissatisfaction in the UK with the EU has increased over the years. The only two countries that have bucked this trend are those which have held referendums on treaty changes—Denmark and Ireland. In December 2001, I recall very well that, in Laeken, EU leaders declared that EU citizens, "““feel that deals are all too often out of their sight and they want better democratic scrutiny””." We worked enormously hard from Brussels—in the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the Parliament—to try to ““reconnect”” with the people of the European Union and we completely failed. It has to be done at grassroots level. It cannot happen from Brussels because it is too far away. The attempt in this Bill is what I would hope would be a beginning of that reconnection. I challenge the Government to offer us more once this Bill has become law, which I sincerely hope it will, but without the sunset clause. The sunset clause would be a vote of no confidence in the British people. It would say, ““Well, we really do not trust you at all. We think that you are okay maybe for this Parliament where we do not think that there is going to be a referendum anyway or at least we do not think that there is going to be a treaty change. But we don’t trust you any further than that. We don’t really want your opinion. We’re going to pick away and pick away at this every single time. We don’t have confidence in you the British public””. I do have confidence in the British public. I see this as a reform Bill, which seeks to address—I believe that it will do so successfully—and can achieve some form of resolution of the fundamental requirement from which our authority in this Parliament derives. What do the British people want? It is for us to ask them, which is what happened in the Irish referendum. We went out with the package of information. The European Union opened the office and made a huge effort to allow freedom of information flows. The comment that this Bill is effective only for this Parliament because there will not be a referendum in this Parliament is not the case at all. This Bill has already begun to achieve its purpose. It has got us discussing far more openly for the first time for a very long time the primacy of British legislation and the sovereignty of Britain, which I recall very well we agreed in the coalition document. Yes, we did not agree that there would be referenda on passerelle. In the coalition document, we said that it would be primary legislation but we most certainly guaranteed that no further powers should be transferred to Brussels without a referendum. The passerelle would require primary legislation. We commented on the case for a UK sovereignty Bill, which comes in Clause 18. The coalition document states that there will be, "““no further transfer of sovereignty or powers over the course of the next Parliament””." If I recall correctly, in the coalition document we declared that the Government would pass down power to the people and away from the centre. The coalition agreement states: "““We share a conviction that the days of big government are over: that centralisation and top-down control have proved a failure … it is our ambition to distribute power and opportunity to people rather than hoarding authority within government. That way, we can build the free, fair and responsible society we want to see””." The sunset clause would give us a long night of further discontent with the British people and rightly so. I urge noble Lords, despite the feeling of frustration that somehow they do not like referenda, to understand that, as the noble Lord, Lord Waddington, has commented, the British people are thoroughly dissatisfied with the fact that they have not been consulted. This is our opportunity. I think we should grab it and forget the sunset clause.