European Union (Withdrawal) Bill

Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan Excerpts

Tuesday 30th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Neill of Clackmannan (Lab)]

My Lords, I start by saying that I am a remainer who would like to have the opportunity to vote for a second referendum Bill but not, I think, in the context of this piece of legislation. The Bill has been dismissed by some as merely an enabling—that is, it is primarily about process. I would add a cautionary note here and say that when we deal with matters of process we very quickly become engaged in areas of substance. The Bill has a number of areas where more work needs to be done. This is nothing new: in my experience of the Commons, and even of this House, a Bill that starts at Second Reading, goes through Committee and Report and ends up here, results in many different amendments. Certainly, this Bill is not the finished article. The range and complexity of the topics it covers and the need for much of it to be agreed with EU negotiators means that there is still much to be done. That may be proposed as an excuse for its inadequacies—if that is the right word—but there are certain areas where it is not a get-out clause for Government.

A number of noble Lords have referred today to the so-called Henry VIII powers, and I believe that this is such an area, because it will not go away. The Constitution Committee has pointed out that there may well be some areas where change can be achieved only by the use of Henry VIII-type measures—declaratory ones, or certain forms of statutory instrument. It is a general rule, however, that it is unacceptable for primary legislation to be amended by any means other than the full parliamentary process. If it is not subject to parliamentary scrutiny, that is quite likely to prejudice the acceptability of a lot of other changes that the Bill intends to enact.

Withdrawal from the EU is controversial. The referendum result was not overwhelming. A majority of one is enough, but it is incumbent on the Government to achieve a working consensus. This is not a binary, winner takes all, process. The Scottish independence referendum was an electoral civil war in Scotland, from which the country has not yet recovered, and that referendum resulted in a far bigger majority. I mention this because there is still a pronounced fragility about the state of the union as far as Scotland is concerned. Reference has been made to Clause 11, and the problems that this presents not just to Scotland but to Wales and Northern Ireland. There are those who will be quite happy to exploit some of these difficulties for their own purposes.

I would like to think that the Government will give this area a far higher priority, that process is dealt with here quickly and that the amendments acceptable to Parliament, Assemblies and both Houses can be produced in good time. If we do not do that, we could be dealing with withdrawal Bills of a rather different character before too long.

The Government have said that everything is moving and will be okay. So far the record does not suggest that we can take that with a great deal of confidence. Nevertheless, if the Government are going to come to this House with the amendments that everyone seems to recognise as desirable, they will have to do so quickly—before Report and Third Reading. I would like to think that if we can do that, we may not get other challenges to the unity of the United Kingdom, let alone our relationship with Europe. It is, however, fair to say that if we can get legislation that covers a wide range of the necessary amendments—those that most members of this House would be prepared to accept—then it would be only reasonable at that stage to have the opportunity of a truly meaningful vote on the settlement. Then, if required, we could put it to the country as a whole.

However, time is not on our side and we need to address this with a far greater degree of urgency. But the urgency with which we must address it should not be regarded as an excuse for driving the Bill through on a series of timetable Motions or threats of a kind that would simply recreate the current resentment, which we have a chance to diminish in the very near future.