I am making my own speech in my own way. There will inevitably be a division on a decision of principle. But we are not debating for or against entry—that will come later, when we debate the legislation. We are now arguing about constitutional rights, and whether or not we should follow constitutional precedents.

On 18th January, the Prime Minister told one of his hon. Friends that the Government were continuing the procedure which Governments have always followed in relation to the signing of treaties. He recommended to the House the words of a distinguished Leader of the House and member of my party, the late Herbert Morrison: We shall follow the customary British parliamentary practice."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 10th March, 1949; Vol. 462, c. 1400.] I admit that there is a powerful case on grounds of precedent for doing as the Government have been doing. But the main argument about why we need a change at this stage was what the Leader of the Opposition said when he questioned the Prime Minister: Is it not a fact that in that particular case it involved a treaty which, although important, was not as important as this one?"—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 18th January, 1972; Vol. 829, c. 208.] Then, it was the N.A.T.O. Treaty but we are now dealing with the Treaty of Accession, which is not a normal treaty.

The right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Grimond) argued that it is unique. The hon. Member for Clitheroe, who criticised our Motion, conceded this. It is for this reason that we believe that it should have been published and that hon. Members should be able to discuss it before it is signed. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster argued his case well, but even he had to admit that it was unique. The Prime Minister has said that entry is a momentous decision. That may be a cliché, but everyone agrees.

The policies which flow from the Treaty will profoundly affect the lives of British men and women whether for better or worse. As I said, I remain a sceptic, but, whatever we may say about the Treaty of Rome, the legislation which will flow from it will inevitably affect all sections of life in our community. I hope that the Minister of Agriculture will appreciate that it considerably affects his industry. It also affects the interests of many Commonwealth citizens because of the agricultural and food implications —in Australia, New Zealand, in the Caribbean and those great sugar-producing areas which have special contractual arrangements with us under the Commonwealth Sugar Agreement.

Parliament and the parliamentary system will be affected in a unique way. There will be a new system and new relationships. We are therefore dealing with a different treaty, although it has been argued that all Governments sign treaties which are subject to ratification.

Will the treaty and the regulations under it—there are over 10,000 of them —purport to override future as well as existing Acts of Parliament? I hope that we shall get a reply from the Government because this is a major issue.

It is a fundamental rule of our constitution that no Government must bind their successors in relation to our internal sovereignty. Although this important issue has been raised by the right hon. and learned Member for Hertfordshire, East (Sir D. Walker-Smith) on previous occasions, it has not been adequately discussed, and it was referred to today only in passing. The sovereignty of Parliament does not belong to those who are at any given time its members. They hold it in trust for the people and they cannot give it up without the consent of the people.

In a pre-election speech on the subject of Britain's entry into the Common Market the present Prime Minister said that there had to be the full-hearted consent of the people. We should bear in mind that there is no civilised country in the world which allows a basic constitutional change to be made without a referendum, without the consent of the people or without a special majority of their legislatures. This is true of, for example, Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Thus, the Prime Minister will be signing the Treaty of Accession on behalf of the British Government, but he will be ignoring Parliament and the British people.

We should know what is in the treaty. Hon. Members have a right to know the details. We must rely on the Press to tell us what has been happening, and in a signed article in The Guardian today there appear under the headline Last-minute frenzy before treaty is signed details about the Treaty of Accession.

There are 161 articles annexed to the treaty applying the Common Market rules to the four candidates. It also contains 30 protocols and another series of special annexes. The Guardian article tells us about them: They comprise documents which, according to one British negotiator, 'are of amazing complexity and unintelligibility'. Hopefully, Parliament will be able to translate them into simpler language. If the treaty is available to the Press and if Pressmen know its form, should it not be available to hon. Members?

In addition to reports in the Press, on which we have had to rely—they have not been denied by the Government—there have been leaks from Brussels, speeches by civil servants, and fortunately we have some excellent Common Market correspondents writing in our newspapers. An article appeared in the Financial Times on 8th January describing some of the decisions which have been made in Brussels, yet they have not been revealed to this House, not even by the Ministers who have been responsible for the negotiations.

I am sure that the Chancellor of the Duchy has done his best, and I am not complaining about him personally. However, not enough detailed information has been given to hon. Members about some of the decisions of the Community since we approved the White Paper on negotiations in principle. One need only read the accounts in the Press to realise that we should have been given for more information.

My hon. Friends and I are really arguing that before taking this major decision, we should have revealed the full details of the Treaty of Accession, a document which will alter our whole way of life, which in many ways will be irrevocable and which is highly complicated in view of its 161 articles and protocols.

We are not asking today for a decision on principle. We are merely saying that Parliament should be informed. After all, the documents which are before the negotiators, and which will be before those who sign the treaty, are complex and have long annexes.

No major secondary legislation has been revealed to the House. If one reads the old Treaty of Rome of 25th March, 1957, one recognises that many of the protocols in the Treaty of that day, which I am certain will be repeated in relation to the interests of Britain, Ireland, Norway and Denmark, contain major sections of policy agreements which have not been given to the respective Parliaments.

I do not want history to repeat itself. It is right that we should know what is being done. The protocols in the treaty are important. I believe that they affect not only the countries concerned, but also those countries which have commercial arrangements with the European Community.

There is the whole question of secondary legislation. Right hon. and hon. Members may be surprised at the amount. This pre-accession series of English texts of the secondary legislation of the European Communities is published to show how the secondary legislation as it stood at 10th November, 1971, will apply to the United Kingdom when the Communities are enlarged.

There is then a whole series of notes at the end of the individual instructions indicating the adaptations which have been agreed or are under discussion with the Communities. This is the first time that Parliament has had these authentic English texts. They cover a wide range of decision-making. Three-quarters of the secondary legislation involves the adaptation and phasing in of the common agricultural policy.

Only the other day when we were debating the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill I thought that the Minister was rather surprised at one of the regulations in the series of articles which deals with a matter on which he was legislating. I refer to his decision to disband the Agricultural Statistical Advisory Committee, which is essential for the Price Review, and also for an assessment of the state of the agriculture industry.

We see here that in the Community itself there is a regulation which is binding on the Minister. It will inevitably make him set-up a special regional committee to do precisely the sort of thing which he is seeking not to do in the legislation before the House. It is no good the hon. Gentleman saying "nonsense". The simple fact is that in the secondary legislation there are many important matters relating to agriculture and food which have never been discussed and have never been reported to the House.

The regulations are in many cases couched in different language. They say here that there will be articles stating that regulations shall come into force on a specific day. There are regulations which state that they are binding in their entirety and directly applicable to all member States. There is a statement, too, that the instrument may, in certain circumstances, be subject to the adaptation of the larger Community, and also that the instrument is subject to further discussions within the Community. There is, therefore, a great variety of complex secondary legislation which has never been debated in the House. Many of our lawyer friends will undoubtedly have a field day on this.

The hon. and learned Member for Norwich (Sir J. Foster), who made an interesting and stimulating speech, put a direct question to the Minister, which I hope the Lord President of the Council will have noticed. He asked what form the legislation would take following the signing of the Treaty of Accession. The hon. and learned Gentleman argued for a one-Clause Bill with a series of orders flowing from it. He argued also that the legislation sanctioning the Treaty of Accession could not be amended. I hope that the Solicitor-General will be able to give an answer on this important question. If that legislation is not capable of amendment, Parliament may have to consider other ways and means and the Government may have to adopt some other approach so that Parliament is properly informed of what is going on.

I could argue that there is still the C.A.P. The instruments show that in some of the legislation flowing from the C.A.P. many of these matters still have not been finalised. The steps of the levy and many of the issues involving marketing boards are still in a state of uncertainty. Even the rôle of the farmers in price review negotiations in a European setting and many of the issues on animal health have not been finally settled.

Then there is the fisheries issue, which has been debated at great length today. My right hon. Friend the Member for Battersea, North (Mr. Jay), the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland, my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Edinburgh, Leith (Mr. Ronald King Murray) and the hon. Member for the Western Isles (Mr. Donald Stewart) argued cogently about the sell out in relation to the fisheries agreement—[HON. MEMBERS: "Rubbish."] Hon. Members may deny it. I know that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster have repeated over and over again that the fishermen are satisfied with what they have achieved. That is not so. The fishery organisation for England and Wales is strongly opposed to the Government's decision in this respect.

The Chancellor of the Duchy has not got a continuing arrangement. He has not got even what has been agreed for Norway. He still gives an uncertain opinion in relation to the veto. At one stage during these debates the Minister of State, Scottish Office, stated emphatically in another place that we could use the veto at the end of the 10-year period.

The question was directed to the Chancellor of the Duchy in the final stages of the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, West (Mr. James Johnson). Even at this late stage, I give the right hon. and learned Gentleman this opportunity to answer the direct question: at the end of the day, when we are in negotiating another agreement, shall we be able to use the veto, as the Minister of State, Scottish Office, said that we would.