European Union Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill Excerpts

Tuesday 5th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick]

I just want to help the noble Lord, Lord Pearson, if I can. Yes, pretty well all the accession treaties do not transfer powers to Brussels, and there have been quite a lot of them.

[Lord Lester of Herne Hill]

Another example is that, in the protocol to the treaty of Lisbon, there is a provision giving power to national parliaments to be able to refer to the Luxembourg court issues where the national parliament considers that the principle of proportionality is being breached by legislative proposals emanating from Brussels. That is an example of where the treaty of Lisbon enhances the powers of national parliaments.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, the noble and Europhile Lords are struggling to find examples.