European Union (Approval of Treaty Amendment Decision) Bill [Lords]

Debate between James Clappison and Kelvin Hopkins

Monday 10th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clappison]

I beg to move amendment 1, page 1, line 14, leave out subsection (2) and insert—

‘(2) This Act shall not come into force until the day after the Secretary of State has laid an order certifying that the constitutional requirements of all the member states of the EU have been complied with and all the related legal challenges have been disposed of.’.

I am grateful to the right hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr MacShane) for giving the Committee a perhaps unintended trailer of the film, as it were, but I hope to persuade hon. Friends that the film is rather better than his trailer for it. The gist of his argument was: what business is it of ours and how dare we lecture Europe on what it should do? But there is a difference between what he said and the amendment, which is concerned with what Europe has decided and how it takes effect in this country. That is rather a different matter, and I hope that I will persuade the Committee that important questions arise from it.

The amendment, which I do not intend to press to a vote, is designed to probe some of those questions. In the negotiations leading up to the amendment to article 136 of the EU treaty, the Prime Minister secured a good deal for Britain. It was a good deal for reasons I shall explain shortly. I do not want to go into the background of how in May 2010 the country became committed to the European financial stabilisation mechanism, which was different from the European stability mechanism, which we are talking about now, and from the European financial stability facility—there is no shortage of such acronyms and measures. In fact, I asked the House of Commons Library this morning how many attempts the EU had made since 2008 to resolve the euro crisis, but it said that it was difficult to say in the time available because there had been so many and it was so complex. However, it gave me a rough estimate of 17, including the latest one from Mr Draghi—we must hope that the 17th is more successful than the previous 16.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

I agree with the hon. Gentleman. Some say that these repeated measures to try to save the euro are like kicking a can down the road, trying to fend off the inevitable for a little longer. Is that a fair assessment?

[Mr Clappison]

I pay tribute to the hon. Gentleman, who has been consistent in his analysis. I have not yet heard anyone who has convincingly contradicted his analysis of the underlying economic problems.

European Union Bill

Debate between James Clappison and Kelvin Hopkins

Wednesday 26th January 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clappison]

To be fair to the hon. Member for Cheltenham, he has an honourable and consistent approach to these matters which has a lot of appeal in the country. He is in favour of a more integrated Europe and of expanding the competences of the EU in co-operation with Europe. That is an honourable point of view to take. I take a slightly different view, but I respect him for his views. However, I would point out to him that of all the safeguards that have been mentioned, the one that seems to have been most satisfactory—it is possibly the only one—is the opt-out. When one surveys the history of this country’s participation in the EU, the areas in which people take most satisfaction are those from which we opted out, foremost among which is the single European currency. Some people say that that was one of the greatest achievements of our European policy. All the things that we have gone along with are the subject of great dissatisfaction.

[Kelvin Hopkins (Luton North) (Lab)]

I apologise for missing the start of the hon. Gentleman’s speech. I agree with what he says about opt-outs. Would it not be to the advantage of the British people if we could also opt out of, for example, the common fisheries policy?

[Mr Clappison]

My constituency does not have a fishing port, but my understanding is that there are no demonstrations in favour of the CFP in fishing ports.

European Union Bill

Debate between James Clappison and Kelvin Hopkins

Tuesday 7th December 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clappison]

I am afraid that my hon. Friend is correct. We are deepening and extending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

What to do about all this? There is one improvement that can be made to the Bill—an improvement that I put to my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary. It would be a great improvement on the Bill, and would be in keeping with what we have been saying about parliamentary democracy, if we made the exercise of the opt-ins subject to a vote in this House—something that does not take place at the moment, however heroic and detailed our efforts at European scrutiny are, as we cannot cause this House of Commons to have a vote on something of that nature. That would be easy for Ministers to agree to, and I cannot think of a good reason against it. My right hon. Friend said, “Well, there might be too many of these things,” which rather bears out the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Mr Cash) just made about the extent of the penetration of the European Union’s jurisdiction. However, the fact that things might take up too much of the House’s time is not a sufficient reason not to have a vote—perish the thought!—on such matters. I remind my right hon. and hon. Friends that we specifically promised in our manifesto to allow Parliament more time to scrutinise legislation. My proposal would be in keeping with that, which would be a good thing.

It would also be appropriate for Ministers to consider amendments to the provisions dealing with the question of significance, because at the moment, whether we have a referendum under the circumstances detailed in the Bill depends on whether Ministers think they are significant enough. What a thing! Ministers are to decide whether something is significant enough, and the explanatory notes to the Bill then tell us that anyone who is aggrieved by such a decision should go off to the courts to seek a judicial review. What on earth is Parliament for? Are we not allowed to hold Ministers to account as well? Are we now going to have to subcontract that to the courts?

[Kelvin Hopkins]

This reminds me of when, late in the progress of the Freedom of Information Bill, a clause was suddenly introduced that stated that there could be freedom of information unless a Minister said no. It was to be left to the discretion of a Minister whether something could be covered by freedom of information legislation.

[Mr Clappison]

This is a test for my right hon. and hon. Friends, and I hope that they will listen to the case for certain amendments. I hope that, rather than seeking to drive the Bill through unamended, they will try to improve it. I believe that we can do that by building on what is already in it and, in so doing, restore the authority of this House. That is what this is really all about. We need to restore the authority of the House, because our right to self-governance and our parliamentary sovereignty have been systematically stripped away by the European Union over the years. So far, everything that has been described as a safeguard to prevent that from happening and a solution to the problem has turned out to be false.

First, there was the promise that we would have voting only by unanimity. That was the original promise in the literature delivered to every household when we originally went into the European Union. Then we had the pillar structure, which has long since crumbled to dust and become part of the main European structure. We then had the pledge of subsidiarity, but we do not hear so much about that these days. I remember being told, during the passage of previous Bills 10 to 15 years ago, that subsidiarity was going to be the solution to the problem, but nobody talks about it now. The only example of the exercise of subsidiarity by the European Commission has been in relation to the zoos directive, so I am pleased that at least some of our fellow creatures have benefited from the doctrine of subsidiarity.

I hope that this Bill does not go the same way as all those other failed attempts to solve the problem, in which Ministers have gone around saying, “This is the solution. We do not need to worry any more about Europe. There is no problem about the constant transfer of powers to the European Union—we have put a stop to it.” Rather than simply seeking to drive the Bill through the House of Commons, I hope that Ministers will listen to the case for improving the Bill with properly tabled amendments. We could make this a better Bill but, as things stand, we have the continuing problem of parliamentary self-governance being stripped away by the European Union. I do not want to say that we have hung up a sign that says “Business as usual” to the European Union; I hope that we can do a bit better than that. Certainly, as far as the transfer of new powers is concerned, we should put up the “Closed” sign to the European Union.

Draft EU Budget 2011

Debate between James Clappison and Kelvin Hopkins

Wednesday 13th October 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Clappison]

If there were a search for economies in the European budget, one of the best places to start would be the External Action Service. I have a suspicion that although some of its activities might be worth while, the prime motivating force behind the establishment of what is in effect a diplomatic service is the promotion of the European Union itself rather than the interests of member states or their citizens. I suspect that there might be scope for economies.

Let us be clear that what is being sought is planned increases in the External Action Service. Let us spell out the facts of what it will cost so far as it stands—as the Economic Secretary made clear. So far, the cost of the External Action Service, which is on the record under the so-called budget neutrality, is €400 billion. The diplomatic service has 3,700 employees and posts in about 130 nations in the world, many of which already have British diplomatic representation. Spending of that magnitude compares, I am afraid, with the search for economies that is being made in our Foreign Office, where savings of much smaller amounts of money are sought all the time in the face of the demands that have been made to try to economise. It would be sad to see the Union flag taken down in some countries in the world while the European flag was run up. I would regret that, as I think our Foreign Office does a good job in the world and represents the interests of our country. Its prime consideration is to represent this country and our citizens’ interests, rather than searching for exterior political objectives to do with the European Union.

This has been a very good debate. I commend the line that has been taken by the Economic Secretary. The facts are stark and anybody who reads these budget documents will be shocked that such increases are sought by the European Union at this of all times. It also prompts a question about the relationship between the European Union institutions, the Commission of the European Union, our constituents and the man on the street in every European state. What must be the attitude at a time when there is so much concern about the economy, when people are suffering and when cuts are being made if the European Union somehow feels that it is immune from those pressures and can go on increasing its expenditure?

[Kelvin Hopkins]

Let me reinforce that point. When referendums have been held in a number of countries, the people have voted against the European Union, in essence. That has happened in France and Holland, and in Sweden when they voted against having the euro. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right.

[Mr Clappison]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for that contribution. He has a very consistent record on this issue.

An increasing proportion of our laws, certainly as a result of the past 13 years, are being passed in the European Union, which searches constantly for new fields over which to exercise authority. It has made its way into home affairs and justice and it has huge ambitions regarding security and criminal justice. It also seeks to have an increasing influence over foreign affairs, with the establishment of a Foreign Minister and a diplomatic service. We know that it has all those great ambitions and we would do well to reflect, in the House, on what the increases in the budget say about the EU’s attitude toward individual citizens and its accountability to them.