European Union Bill

Like the Minister, I do not want to stray into that debate. One thing that has been clear from this whole debate, including on Second and Third Reading, is the real threat to this institution comes from judicial activism. That threat does not come so much from the European Union as from our own judiciary. We must be mindful of that. Another expert witness who gave evidence to the hon. Gentleman's Committee was Vernon Bogdanor, a research professor at King's college London and a former tutor of the Prime Minister. He said that"““the purpose of the bill must be to prevent a future government from supporting such an amendment or transfer without a referendum. The bill seeks, in other words, to bind a future government. That seems to me inconsistent with the declaratory proposition that Parliament is sovereign.””" That is an extremely powerful statement. We must consider the full impact of this legislation.