Lisbon Treaty (No.1) — (1st Allotted Day)

Part of Business of the House (Lisbon Treaty) (No.2) – in the House of Commons at 6:39 pm on 29 January 2008.

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Photo of John Gummer John Gummer Conservative, Suffolk Coastal 6:39, 29 January 2008

You are quite right, Madam Deputy Speaker.

The fact that all that may be true does not mean that we should not return to the realities of life: that we are part of Europe, that we become more part of Europe as travel becomes so much easier and communication so much simpler, and that we must therefore make the best of it. When our constituents—the people who voted for us—tell us that their daughter has been arrested in another part of the European Union, what will they say? They will say "We are all in the European Union together; what are you doing about it?" Unless we have these changes, my answer will have to be "Well, we have not got around to that yet."

There are those who say that this is merely an economic agreement. I have heard that a bit today. But as a business man—and I have declared all my interests in the register—I know perfectly well that law is crucial to my ability to carry on a business in the European Union. Rob Marris was right to stress that that is a huge advance.

It has been said that this discussion will reveal division on this side of the House. Given the division on the other side, that merely shows that there is real ground for argument, which is why the Government should stand condemned for not allowing enough time for our debates. Within that argument, however, I beg all on both sides who are doubtful not to set the immediacies of narrow legal points against the reality that our citizens, our electors, need the protection that the treaty of Lisbon will give them. Without that protection they will be denied the kind of legal structure that fits the days in which we live, and has moved us on from the days of the carriage and the penny post.