European Union (Future Relationship) Bill

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

3rd reading & 2nd reading & Committee negatived & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & 3rd reading (Hansard) & 3rd reading (Hansard): House of Lords & Committee negatived (Hansard) & Committee negatived (Hansard): House of Lords
Wednesday 30th December 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Con)]

My Lords, I join many noble friends in paying tribute to my good and noble friend Lord Cavendish of Furness for his moving and powerful valedictory speech. He will be sadly missed in this House.

This is a very great day for me, for two reasons. First, we are finally unshackling ourselves from the EU. Secondly, it is my birthday. I can think of no better way to spend one’s birthday than being here on this historic occasion.

How are historians going to look at this moment? I turn to the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Newby; I am glad that he is still in his place. He said that the referendum was called by David Cameron as a result of splits in the Tory party. I take issue with the noble Lord on two points. First, he seems to think that it was a mistake for David Cameron to call a referendum and put it in his manifesto. That is rather strange, coming from Liberal Democrats—I thought that they were rather keen on referenda. Perhaps it is only referenda where they can agree with the result.

Secondly, it was not because of Tory splits. It was for the very simple reason that many Tory Members of Parliament, particularly those in marginal seats, were challenged at the time by Nigel Farage and UKIP, who were undertaking to stand on the basis that there would be a referendum on whether we stayed in Europe or not. A number of Tory MPs came to David Cameron and persuaded him that we must put it in our manifesto as well. As a result, a number of votes moved over to Tory MPs and saved their seats. As we know, it turned out that there was an overall majority.

I have a theory—I do not know whether it is true—that David Cameron was looking at the polls and expected that he would end up with another hung Parliament and a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. Was it possible that he thought that, if so, he would make it a condition of going into coalition with the Liberals that they dropped any commitment to a referendum?

As it is, I join the noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, in commending Nigel Farage and UKIP. They have made a material difference to this country. It is shameful that he is not in your Lordships’ House. You do not have to agree with somebody to accept the major contribution they have made. He was pivotal to this referendum being held, and as a result, we are now leaving the EU. To this day, he has substantial support in the country, and I do not know how many Members of your Lordships’ House can say that.

I strongly support this Bill; I commend my right honourable friend the Prime Minister for his negotiating skills and for keeping no deal on the table, which has been critical for getting the agreeable terms we have today.