European Union (Amendment) Bill — [12th Allotted Day]
Orders of the Day — Consolidated Fund (Appropriation) Bill
3:45 pm
David Miliband (Foreign Secretary; South Shields, Labour)
I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.
On Third Reading, it is traditional to recognise the contribution of all sides to the debate on the Bill, and happily, in this case, I have a lot of material to draw on. Since I introduced the Bill on Second Reading nine weeks ago, six Secretaries of State and shadow Secretaries of State have spoken to the House. The scrutiny process in Committee has totalled some 560,000 words—five and a half times the length of the consolidated treaty itself. I hope that the House will allow me to highlight a small number of outstanding contributors to our—