European Union (Accessions) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 6:44 pm on 21 May 2003.

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Photo of Denis MacShane Denis MacShane Minister of State (Europe), Foreign & Commonwealth Office 6:44, 21 May 2003

The answer is yes. That has been said three times from the Dispatch Box. The trivialisation lies in the fact that a debate on EU accession that should have been wholly bipartisan was turned into a lengthy disquisition in which what is said in the flowing rivers of the Daily Mail and The Sun has been repeated from the Opposition Benches. I am disappointed about the new axis for popular plebiscites between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party. I hope that Mr. Campbell will reflect on whether his party now wants to call for a referendum on the IGC when we will certainly not, I expect, know the final contents this year or even next year.