European Union (Referendum) Bill

Never!

Who said never? I have just travelled back overnight from the United States.

Why?

I was there with the noble Lord, Lord Jopling, who told me that he would have made a lot of money...

Get on with it!

I will get on with it, as my noble friend said.

I was there with the European Union Sub-Com...

Oh!

The record shows that my critics are completely wrong, as my noble friends rightly agree. All the...

I remind your Lordships that if Amendment 50 is agreed, I cannot call Amendment 50A by reason of ...

My Lords, as so often, I follow my noble friend Lord Foulkes. Our names appear on a number of the...

My Lords, I rise to speak briefly in support of Amendment 50 and to address the issue of delegati...

This Bill came to this House from another place. In that other place, it was not opposed properly...

My Lords, the noble Lord has properly said that a week ago, this House passed two constructive am...

I made my position very plain at Second Reading. I did not support those amendments because I bel...

My Lords, the noble Lord has spoken about sticking to the rules in your Lordships’ House. I liste...

My Lords, the last thing I am prepared to do, with great respect, is to have a lecture from the n...

The noble Lord, Lord Richard, in addressing his comments to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack, several...

My Lords, I will speak to the same amendment in this group to which the noble Lord, Lord Richard,...

May I ask the noble Lord whether he is in favour of joining the monetary union?

The noble Lord may very well ask me that, but it would take me too long to answer while at the sa...

The reason why I ask him that is that, if he was in favour of joining, under the treaty of Maastr...

The noble Lord has shifted between two tenses. He first asked whether I was in favour of joining ...

Is it the noble Lord’s contention as a constitutional principle that this Parliament can never de...

If the noble Lord had listened to what I said, which I fear he did not, he would know that I did ...

My Lords, I am one of those who believe that it is sensible to discuss the content of the Bill, i...

My Lords—

10.45 am

My Lords, I was not passing up the opportunity, I just could not believe that no one else was sta...

The noble Lord has made a number of constructive and sensible speeches from the Dispatch Box. Is ...

My Lords, I am speaking for myself in this House. This is a Private Member’s Bill and all I can d...

My Lords, I rise briefly to point out to the House that the House of Lords Constitution Committee...

My Lords, another hour, another group of amendments. We have 15 groups of amendments to get throu...

My Lords—

I am only a minute into my speech, but of course I will make way for the noble Lord.

Last week, when we were proceeding at precisely this pace, the noble Lord said that we were makin...

The noble Lord has made his point, again. I think that it is a point that he made last week in Co...

My Lords, with respect, the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, has not addressed any of the amendments or re...

Come on!

This is a very important point. My noble friend Lord Anderson has been a Member of the other plac...

My Lords, if the House really wants to know the answer then maybe I should give it. In the Box we...

Will those government officials who are dealing with the strictly government parts of this Bill—I...

Let me help the House because I know there has been some confusion. The Leader of the Opposition ...

My Lords, I hesitate to intervene because, unfortunately, for various reasons, I could not be her...

The noble Baroness sums up the position quite well in the sense that if there were a Liberal Demo...

I am sorry to intervene again, but has an approach been made by the Foreign Office, or indeed by ...

I can inform the House that officials provide the same level of support and the same information ...

It is quite difficult when there is no Liberal Democrat Minister from the Foreign Office. I know ...

My name and that of my party have been invoked, so it is important for me to clarify where we are...

I shall be brief because I do not think there is much I can add. I think I have set the position ...

My Lords, this has been a very illuminating intervention in my reply to the debate. However, with...

My noble friend Lady Warsi was extremely clear about that as well. As it happens, there is a conv...

I am very grateful to the Leader of the House. That is absolutely clear. I now return to what I w...

Former Leader of the House.

Yes, former Leader of the House.

This Bill has been criticised by people like the noble Lor...

The noble Lord, Lord Triesman, made it quite plain that he was speaking for himself.

He was not speaking for me—I wish he had been, if you see what I mean—but I agree with everything...

Moved by

Lord Turnbull

50A: Clause 1, page 1, line 14, at end insert—

“(7) No o...

My Lords, I do not intend to move Amendment 72, the other amendment in this group.

The nobl...

My Lords, I strongly support Amendment 50A from the noble Lord, Lord Turnbull. It is most unusual...

My Lords, I totally agree with the noble Lord that if there were to be a referendum the British p...

Precisely the same argument could be applied to the second of the amendments we made last week. T...

My Lords, can I just ask the noble Lord for a point of clarification before he concludes? He said...

I apologise. I was unclear. I was not commenting on the amendments that have been discussed—those...

I am grateful to the noble Lord. That is very helpful. Thank you very much.

My Lords, I put my name to this amendment because I believe its purpose to be profoundly importan...

My Lords, my name, too, is attached to Amendments 50A and 72. I start with the principles establi...

I apologise to my noble friend. We are considering Amendments 50A and 72. I am not entirely clear...

I am speaking to both of them, because they are about the Government and the movers of the Bill e...

My Lords, it is incumbent on this occasion—it was not done with the previous group of amendments—...

My Lords, I will intervene very briefly in response to my noble friend Lord Shipley, who had call...

My Lords, I did not say that it did; the point is important because the Electoral Commission made...

My Lords, I will intervene briefly in this debate. The debate would be that much shorter if the n...

My Lords, I support the amendment put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Turnbull, for the reasons w...

I have never made that allegation. I have always accepted that there are men and women of great p...

My noble friend used the word “oppose”, but I do not oppose the Bill, and neither do I oppose a r...

I am very grateful for that intervention on the part of the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat. I am a pr...

My Lords, I support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Turnbull, and many of the a...

I entirely agree with the noble Lord, and with the point that has been made widely, that all the ...

I am sure the noble Lord is right, but the extent to which the Prime Minister carries his party w...

My Lords, if the noble Lord, Lord Dobbs, says that he will accept this amendment, I will very hap...

My Lords, at some time, preferably not today, I should like to hear about the implications of a y...

My Lords, I support the amendment. In an earlier intervention, the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, drew ...

My Lords, I take it as pretty certain that there will ultimately be a referendum because, at some...

I have not heard a single noble Lord object to the content of this amendment. The only one seems ...

Of course I could but quite clearly I am not going to. It would deprive us of hearing the noble L...

I am grateful to the noble Lord. Although I endorse entirely the appeal made by my noble friend L...

My Lords, I shall be brief. The core purposes of this Bill are that there should be an “in or out...

My Lords, I will not detain the House for long. I think that there is pretty strong support all a...

Does the noble Lord recall that when he worked in Downing Street and the noble Lord, Lord Triesma...

I am afraid that I do not, no. What I do know about the Labour Government is that when they were ...

I would be grateful if the noble Lord would agree that I personally do not have a case to answer ...

I have the greatest respect for the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles. I am not worried about the resul...

No!

Conservative Back-Benchers, I hasten to add, not Liberal Democrat ones. The Prime Minister's resp...

My Lords, before the noble Lord finally sits down, will he explain to me why, when legislation wa...

If I recollect correctly—I took an active part in that campaign—there was an assessment of the re...

My Lords, there is a government view on membership of the European Union, which is that the UK’s ...

My Lords, this has been another lengthy debate and I do not wish to prolong it. First, I will jus...

I am most grateful to the noble Lord for giving way, but I am afraid that he is yet again caricat...

If the noble Lord will forgive me, that is not what the amendment seeks. It is not about what the...

My Lords, this has been another hour and a half—but I do not begrudge that—of very interesting di...

Before the noble Lord sits down, can he indicate whose intention he has in mind? The amendment re...

That would be the responsibility of the Government who inherit the responsibility for negotiating...

Moved by

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock

52: After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—...

My Lords, this amendment can be dealt with relatively briefly—by me, certainly. The amendment bef...

Moved by

Lord Anderson of Swansea

53: After Clause 1, line 8, at end insert “; and