European Union

Lord Sewel Excerpts

Wednesday 16th May 2012 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[The Chairman of Committees]

European Union

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That the evidence taken by the Committee or its sub-committees shall, if the Committee so wishes, be published.

[The Chairman of Committees (Lord Sewel)]

I beg to move the final Motion, standing in my name on the Order Paper, to appoint the European Union Committee.

Amendment to the Motion

Moved by

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[Baroness O'Cathain]

My Lords, I hesitate to disagree with my noble friend Lord Tebbit, but there are occasions when the workings of the sub-committees and the Select Committee have actually borne fruit. We have done a number of reports where we put the consumer first, as well as the management of money.

Only recently we had huge success in dealing with the issue of the roaming of data when abroad. That might not sound important to a lot of people but with the growth in the use of iPads, I can assure noble Lords that it is. I spent a night in a hotel in Ireland recently with my iPad—I mean, reading my two newspapers on my iPad in the morning; sorry about that—and it cost me £30. I just could not believe it. We then made our report in a very short exercise—and I see members of my sub-committee agreeing with me—and we got huge acres in the techie press of agreement that this was the way to go, and I am sure that something will happen. It is only a small thing but it is something to convince my noble friend that in fact we are achieving something.

[The Chairman of Committees]

My Lords, I had anticipated an amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Pearson of Rannoch, although not the one that actually emerged. He has put me in something of a difficulty. I do not know whether to respond to his amendment or to his speech because the two seem to be somewhat disconnected.

As the noble Lords, Lord Hannay and Lord Grenfell, have pointed out, the noble Lord fundamentally misunderstands the function of the committee. The committee’s job is to scrutinise Her Majesty’s Government’s response to European initiatives. It also takes on the role of inquiry into particular policy areas. This is where the argument about effectiveness is cited.

The noble Baroness, Lady O’Cathain, has already pointed out with regard to roaming how the committee is able to influence the development of policy. I have previously pointed out with regard to fisheries policy that if you look at the proposals coming forward from the Commission on the reform of the common fisheries policy, they are heavily drawn from the report of our own EU Committee. That is the sort of influence that can be brought to bear in a positive way.

Finally, on the issue of preparing an annual report, the committee already has the power to issue an annual report if it so wishes. Again, listening to the words of the Deputy Chairman of Committees, it seems that he—and the committee—would be quite happy to look at whether something like an annual report could be produced. On that extremely helpful note, I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Tebbit]

Back in May 2008, I asked the then Government whether they could find more than one example of a European Union legislative institution having been altered as a result of proceedings in either House of Parliament. It was a fairly straightforward question. No such examples were given. I wonder whether my noble friend has some examples that might have occurred in the past two years under this Government.

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[The Chairman of Committees]

My Lords, I am much more concerned about being able positively to influence policy development rather than seeking the post-hoc position of trying to change policy and legislation once it has been enacted. Surely it is much better that we are in there, bringing to bear the expertise of this House on issues of major European policy.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

I am most grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken: to the noble Lords, Lord Grenfell and Lord Hannay, and partially to the Chairman of Committees. They all said the same thing: that I had got it all wrong, that I had not understood that the EU Select Committee is there not to tell Brussels what to do but to hold the Government to account and to advise them how to act. Well, as a matter of fact, I am aware of that; my point is that the result is ineffectual, as witnessed by the 580 scrutiny overrides and so on. I accept the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Hannay, who said that the Government indeed reply, copiously, to all our Select Committee reports and that the Commission replies to the Government’s views. However, the result remains the same. On the example relating to fish that has been given by the Chairman of Committees, let us wait and see.

The amendment and the debate have been worth while. I have to disagree with my noble friend—if I may refer to him as such—Lord Tebbit in one regard. I agree that members of the European Union Select Committee are largely wasting their time, but I do not propose that they should go and dig their garden. Their energies should be redistributed around the other committees of your Lordships' House, particularly the ad hoc committees of the future, which will be increasingly important.

I am grateful to the Chairman of Committees for giving me some support and to the chairman of the Select Committee for not ruling out of order what I had to say. I am grateful, too, to both noble Lords for giving us the hope that future annual reports of your Lordships’ Select Committee may indeed include what I have requested. I am most grateful to the noble Lord for his generous reply. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.