EU: UK Membership

Lord Selsdon Excerpts

Thursday 24th October 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Selsdon (Con)]

My Lords, I have the great pleasure and privilege to follow the noble Lord, Lord Wrigglesworth, and to thank him for his most interesting maiden speech. He would not know, and I had forgotten myself, that I began my own industrial activity in the north-east. There was the least business there; as a representative, you got commission in your sales, and there were no commissions to be had in the north-east, until we managed to win a contract at Blyth colliery, which was my introduction to the coal mining industry.

I have listened to the noble Lord, Lord Wrigglesworth, before. It is strange that those who come from the northern parts of the country always speak slightly more seriously, but there is something behind the words they say that pricks. I realised what it is today when the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, spoke, and referred to the balance of power within the House and the different departments. I suddenly concluded that it is probable by my calculations that the noble Lord, Lord Wrigglesworth, now holds the balance of power. I refer him to my great-grandfather, who served in the Lloyd George coalition. Coalitions are not necessarily a good idea, because you have that awful phrase coagulation.

Then you come to the referendums, and things like that. I got a phone call, because I found that I had to give up being in industry because I had been summoned to your Lordships’ House after my father died. I did not know that I did not have to come; I had no writ of summons—I had no knowledge of any of this. I had to change my job. A friend of my grandfather said, “You may not be bright, but you ought to be brighter. Why don’t you do some research in a research company?” I joined it, and one of our clients was JETRO, the Japan External Trade Organisation, which we visited regularly and took to London to encourage it to invest in the United Kingdom. We produced a very good report, but we forgot that the Japanese drove on the same side as we did and that therefore it was much cheaper for them to set up a manufacturer here.

One of the main points that I wish to make today is to ask why are going to have a referendum. I was at one time treasurer of the Conservative Group on Europe, and had a lot of problems trying to raise money for the referendum campaign. I remind your Lordships of some of the background to this. On 28 October 1971, there were votes in the Lords and Commons that,

“this House approves Her Majesty’s Government’s decision of principle to join the European Communities on the basis of the arrangements which have been negotiated”.

In the Lords, there were 88.6% in favour and in the Commons 59.3%—an overwhelming majority. That led on to 1975, when the new Labour Government held a referendum and we found once more to our surprise that in response to the question,

“Do you think that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Community (the Common Market)?”,

64.5% were in favour. So why are we now going to have another referendum? Is it necessary, or is it a matter of internal politics? I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Wrigglesworth, on his speech. If he has the balance of power, we know which way things will go.

My noble friend Lady Noakes and I agree on so many things, but not necessarily on the things she says. Trade has been my lifeblood and fate. The European Union is our biggest trading partner by far, and it also represents our biggest deficit; with the exception of Ireland, with which we have a big surplus, we have a deficit with practically all the EU countries. Our biggest trading partner is still, just, the United States, followed by Germany. But it is not so much the EU that counts; it is the international development and activity that follows on a global basis.

We have managed to attract, in recent years, a sizeable volume of foreign investment in the United Kingdom, not just in manufacturing or in service industries but in pure investment. Our balance of payments deficit in general, without invisibles, would be very significant indeed. On all areas, we have a manufacturing deficit—but the growth areas, surprisingly enough, are those that used to be those of our Commonwealth partners, where the added value is created, in agriculture, minerals or semi-manufactures. At the same time, we have encouraged successful entrepreneurs from those countries to come and invest in the United Kingdom. It will not surprise your Lordships to learn that much of the investment that has come into the United Kingdom in recent years has come from what we would once have called the third world. We can look at the success of India and the development of China and south-east Asia, and even some of the African countries that are producing growth. Our future does not lie within the EU, but it is those markets that are the closest to us and those that foreign investment companies and manufacturers are looking to serve. When they invest, they are looking to invest not in the limited United Kingdom market but in the markets with which the United Kingdom has the greatest relationships.

It is sometimes a good idea to sit and think. I do not propose that we should have a referendum; it is a complete waste of time and money. If you were treasurer of the Conservative Group on Europe and you suddenly found one day that you had a bill for £323,000 and no money, because you could not raise any, you would feel how sensitive it is. I do not know how strong a campaign will be waged, but I wish that the Government would think again and that the noble Lord, Lord Wrigglesworth, with his balance of power, will make sure that we do not have a referendum. I thank him again sincerely for his contribution. I know that we will hear much from him in future.