European Council

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Monday 24th October 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lamont of Lerwick]

My Lords—

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

Perhaps we might hear from the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, and then move to UKIP.

[Lord Lamont of Lerwick]

My Lords, will the Leader of the House possibly correct the attempts of the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, to rewrite history? Will he perhaps remind her that the decisions on which countries joined the euro, and at which parities, were made well before the 1997 election? At that time, the decision by the Conservative Government not to join the euro was severely criticised by both John Smith and Gordon Brown.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

My Lords—

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

That side.

[Lord Lea of Crondall]

The Prime Minister stated only a couple weeks ago, much to the annoyance of President Sarkozy, about the crisis that they—presumably, the eurozone—ought to sort it out. In a sense, I am responding to the question raised by the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit. Does the noble Lord the Leader of the House think that that is what the Prime Minister meant?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Stoddart of Swindon]

My Lords—

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, we are out of time and we should move to Report.

[Lord Stoddart of Swindon]

We ought to have 40 minutes, not 20 minutes.