Euro

Lord Hannay of Chiswick Excerpts

Thursday 27th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Kramer]

My Lords—

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick]

My Lords—

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

My Lords—

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick]

My Lords—

[Lord Strathclyde]

My Lords, we have not heard from the Cross Benches.

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick]

My Lords, would the Minister be so good as to give the noble Lord, Lord Liddle, a reply to the question about the euro-plus pact? It may be that the name of this pact is unfortunate, but it is supported by a number of countries which are not in the eurozone, and its objectives relate very closely to our most important objective, which is to further the single market. Would he not agree that the priority now is not drawing up long wish lists for repatriation but working out how we are going to keep our position and keep the integrity of the single market?

[Lord Sassoon]

As the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, says, there are many things up for consideration and we need to consider the future architecture in the round and decide where it is in the best interests of the UK to move forward on all those issues. It would be too early to pick out one item this morning.