European Parliament

Debate between Lord Howell of Guildford and Lord Rooker

Monday 5th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

The difficulty with that is that in 2002 there was no rejection of the closed-list system that was introduced. There was agreement by the Government of this country and many other countries in the European Union—in fact, all of them—to go for a PR system of some kind. How that will work in future in relation to this place is quite another debate, one on which obviously there will be strong feelings all round. As far as concerns the STV system in Northern Ireland, or the closed-list system for Europe, they were adopted and signed up to by this country, and if we want to unsign and change the system we will have to have a lively debate about it—as I suspect we will.

[Lord Rooker]

Would not the European Parliament be more relevant if the people there were Members of the national parliaments of the countries of the EU, rather than the unaccountable people who are there at present?