European Union Referendum Bill

In Committee, I promised to reflect on the concerns that were raised about the Government’s propo...

What is the exact meaning of what the Minister is saying? My letter to him on behalf of the Publi...

I was going to say that, having studied my hon. Friend’s letter and listened to the views express...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

rose—

If I may finish this point, I will then give way.

In addition, those areas of Government ac...

Why is it necessary for the Government to make any amendment to section 125? The Electoral Commis...

We are bringing forward limited exemptions from section 125 because we believe—we have received f...

Of course my right hon. Friend has received legal advice, but legal advice can cut both ways. Ind...

In answer to my hon. Friend’s last point, if the House is dissatisfied with any regulation that t...

I realise that I should not be interrupting the flow of people to whom the Government are only to...

Order. [Interruption.] Order! The right hon. and learned Gentleman knows that interventions have ...

I do apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I sense, looking around, that I am grossly outnumbered in ...

Order. [Interruption.] Order. The right hon. and learned Gentleman will have to sit down for a mo...

The answer to my right hon. and learned Friend’s question is that the Government will, of course,...

Will my right hon. Friend comment briefly on the comments that were sent out at just gone half-pa...

If my hon. Friend had received the legal advice that I have had, she might take a rather differen...

With respect, I think that this is legalistic claptrap. I do not remember the Prime Minister bein...

As I have just said to the House, what the Government can and cannot do in general elections is g...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. He is, as usual, helpful in explaining his case. In...

My hon. Friend does not understand the extent to which we simply do not know. One member state ca...

Can I just get this right? The Minister’s case is that some nefarious other Government will seize...

I am saying that the European Union is a constant process of negotiation on a whole range of issu...

Will the Minister give way?

Yes, I will, but I am conscious that other Members want to speak.

May I give the Minister an example of what I fear? What I envisage is if, two weeks before the da...

What my hon. Friend describes would not be permitted under the amendment.

Let me give some ...

As a Minister I sat on Telecommunication Councils and it is incredibly detailed stuff. Surely we ...

If a decision to attempt to reach a consensus at Council happens to be timed to fall within those...

To clarify a point the Minister made earlier, can he assure the House that under his proposals we...

From memory, I think the vow was a commitment by party leaders acting in a party political capaci...

My right hon. Friend’s amendment 53 changes the scope of the subjects within purdah. I have liste...

I will come to the detail of our proposal, because in doing so I hope to answer my hon. Friend’s ...

rose—

I give way to my right hon. and learned Friend.

My right hon. Friend is so desperate to give way to everything put to him, I do not think I am hi...

The straight answer to my right hon. and learned Friend is that amendment 53 does not address the...

rose—

I will give way to the hon. Lady, but then I am going to make some progress and not give way agai...

I want to make a suggestion and throw the Minister a lifeline he may wish to grasp. I think we al...

I will come to new clause 10 in a few moments, after I have finished with amendment 53, because t...

That was not quite my point. It was: why change the scope of the subjects considered within purda...

We wanted, if possible, to avoid language that relied on statements about the intention of a part...

Does the Minister not recollect that since the late ’90s, when the legislation was first framed b...

The legislation is now 15 years old, and the more we have gone into its detail, the more I have c...

My right hon. Friend seems very nervous about expressing an opinion on that, which would perhaps ...

My right hon. and learned Friend puts his view forcefully. That was the case the Foreign Secretar...

rose—

I want to touch on a further point about new clause 10, and then I want to try to bring my remark...

To ensure that the electorate are properly informed so that they can take a decision on our futur...

I do not want to trespass on matters that will come up in the second group of amendments, which w...

I am somewhat astonished that the Government are raising the question of hon. Members somehow bei...

I am not arguing that there is legal certainty about this, but if my hon. Friend looks at the wor...

rose—

I shall give way to my hon. Friend, but then I am going to press on.

Is my right hon. Friend prepared to accept manuscript amendment (a)? Why does he not bring before...

It would be premature to bring forward draft regulations before the Bill has completed its progre...

Will the Minister give way?

I am going to make some progress. At the end of the day, it is for Parliament to decide whether o...

I may have missed this in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Mr Chope), but...

I hope that my hon. Friend will forgive me if I address that at the appropriate point in my speec...

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

I will, but I do want to respond to the amendment tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Harwich...

I just wanted to finish off this interesting discussion about what MPs can do. It is complete non...

During general election campaigns, we are not Members of Parliament. Parliament has been dissolve...

I thank the Minister for outlining the Government’s approach—at some length.

Since the Bill...

The Minister suggested that the Opposition had forgotten the devolved Administrations in their am...

Our intention in all these amendments was to reinstate purdah as set out in section 125, but to s...

I went into quite some detail about how amendment 53 was intended to carve out business as usual ...

Our concern is that, instead of reinstating purdah and then having an exceptions regime, the Gove...

If the vote on amendment 53 is successful and it is knocked out, there will be a vote on amendmen...

That would be the case if we did not have new clause 10; yes, amendment 4 would reinstate the ful...

I am confused by the right hon. Gentleman’s response to the former leader of the Scottish Nationa...

As I have said, there is a great deal of overlap between new clause 6 and new clause 10. As I ind...

The right hon. Member for Gordon (Alex Salmond) made a very sensible point on the differences bet...

The hon. Gentleman is entitled to speak to these issues later in the debate, if he decides to mov...

First, I thank my right hon. Friend the Minister for generously accepting amendment (a) to new cl...

Does my hon. Friend agree that the fundamental problem is not a lack of faith in the Government b...

And indeed in our own country—it was the conduct of the Welsh referendum in 1997 that led the Com...

I have never known a referendum of any major consequence in which the losing side has not followe...

That is absolute nonsense. Even in a general election, Ministers can get advice from their Depart...

Does my hon. Friend accept that, while we may end up voting for amendment 4, amendment 78 is bett...

Most of my Committee would certainly agree that this is making the best of a bad job. We will, ho...

May I thank my hon. Friend for all the work he and the Committee have done? Although I am a membe...

I wholly agree with my right hon. Friend. In fact, I think that would reinforce the integrity wit...

My hon. Friend may not be able to commit to this now, but does he think that the Committee he cha...

I will certainly undertake to put that in front of my Committee. It depends on the Government: if...

I wish to speak to amendment 11, tabled in my name and those of my hon. Friends.

The Chair ...

Does the right hon. Gentleman recall that the EU dimension of the Scottish referendum was pretty ...

Yes, indeed it was, but we are discussing the 28-day purdah period at the moment. It has been sug...

I always enjoy hearing what the right hon. Gentleman has to say, because he speaks so well and is...

I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s intervention. I would have welcomed it even more if he had made it...

I think the right hon. Gentleman and I are in agreement about the role of civil servants—obeying ...

The Chair of the Select Committee cited Tony Blair approvingly, presumably to encourage Labour Me...

Does the right hon. Gentleman consider that the bar is so low for a breach, as he puts it, of pur...

That question was some time in the gestation, and I had moved on from what I described as the “ar...

In the light of the interesting argument and the factual information that the right hon. Gentlema...

I have had some chats through informal channels, but I was hoping that the hon. Gentleman’s warm ...

I would just like to take up the point that the right hon. Gentleman ended on. For all the reason...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Stone (Sir William Cash) and to be a member of the...

I agree with my hon. Friend’s line of argument. It would have been better had section 125 been le...

I broadly agree with my hon. Friend. The debate has largely cleared the air and I look forward to...

It is a great pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Luton North (Kelvin Hopkins) and I agree wit...

My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. The referendum was conducted on 3 March 2011. As Secret...

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that helpful intervention. I would like the Minister to...

Does my right hon. Friend have some sympathy with the amendment tabled by the right hon. Member f...

That is certainly worth looking at, but what we really need is a return to proper purdah and we w...

The rules relating to purdah in elections ensure a fair and proper process during elections and r...

I congratulate the Minister on using the summer recess very well in bringing back this legislatio...

It might be helpful to return to the origin of this problem: some people, including many Conserva...

It is a privilege to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Mr Baker). I want to use the t...

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Sorry, I am running out of time, so I will not give way.

The Government should have a view,...

Everybody who has spoken has agreed that there should not be untrammelled freedom for the Governm...

I beg to move amendment 20, page 2, line 2, leave out “parliamentary” and insert “local governmen...

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:

Amendment 17, page 2, line 2, at ...

I will speak not only to amendment 20 but to amendment 21, which is also in my name. These amendm...

Order. There is a great deal of noise in the Chamber. It is only right and courteous that there s...

Just as we in the Labour party have, for better or worse, widened our franchise, so the widest po...

Is it not the case that in many constituencies across the country, including mine, a large number...

That is exactly the point addressed in amendment 20. People can vote in a European Parliament ele...

Is the hon. Gentleman aware of Christian Allard, a fantastic Member of the Scottish Parliament wh...

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for reminding me of that. We discussed this issue in Committe...

rose—

Before I do so, I give way to the right hon. Gentleman.

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that the two groups of people he has identified in his amendment ar...

That is absolutely right. Just as there are more than 2 million EU citizens living in the UK, mor...

I rise to speak to amendments 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in my name and that of my hon. Friends. We wan...

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is regrettable that our new clause 3 has not been selected, as ...

My hon. Friend makes an excellent point about the double majority and why we brought it up.