Clause 1 - Electoral regions in the United Kingdom
European Parliament (Representation) Bill
4:30 pm
Mr William Cash (Stone, Conservative)
The Bill is based on a hypothesis; those who propose it hope that there will be accession by all the states that are applying for it. There is no guarantee that that will happen. In Poland, for example, there are serious doubts about whether there will be accession. Those who have at their fingertips the table that sets out the proposed number of seats that would be allocated to each state that
accedes will notice that Poland has as many as 50 seats allocated to it. That is a substantial number. In relation to the proposed 27 member states, it would be approximately two per state.
There are other question marks. We can see in an article in The Times today that Mr. Paksas has been returned in the elections that took place in Lithuania yesterday. Mr. Paksas is a gentleman who sounds thoroughly Eurosceptic. One could say the same of Vaclav Klaus. In The Times some time ago, Mr. Roger Boyes, who wrote the article to which I referred, said that if there were a marriage bureau for politicians in Europe, it would not be difficult to imagine that Mr. Vaclav Klaus and Mr. Bill Cash might come up on the same data computing record. A shift is taking place within Europe and we cannot guarantee what will happen in any of the referendums. For example, there are serious question marks in relation to Malta and although it appears that there is enthusiasm in Hungary, who is to say what will happen there?
My point is that the Bill is based on a hypothesis and it is extremely unusual to present a Bill to Parliament that is based on something that might happen. I reflected that sentiment in the obverse case that I am putting forward. The Bill is based on the hypothesis that there will be accession and that the referendums will go through. We must consider the matter from the point of view of the United Kingdom, irrespective of party political interests. We are dealing with a question of national interest.
The revised provisions for section 1 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 stipulate that there will be 87 Members. Those are 87 reinforced by the new provisions of clause 1 and that number will remain static unless and until the appropriate accession arrangements go through, which in turn is dependent on the referendums.
There is a substantial issue of principle that has to be addressed. A number of countries might say yes in a referendum, but if a sufficient number say no, there will be a substantial case for a revision of the whole deal. An element of proportionality comes in here. I do not want to choose any one country as an example because I might be accused of diminishing its importance. If one country had far fewer Members available to sit in the European Parliament under the proposals, there are those who would argue—I am not saying that I am one of them—that it would not matter that much because the whole system would not really be out of kilter.
On the other hand, if a country had a substantial number of Members—we could use the example of Poland or the Czech Republic; I can think of others—