Part of Points of Order – in the House of Commons at 4:33 pm on 5 February 2008.
David Lidington
Shadow Minister (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs)
4:33,
5 February 2008
I beg to move, to leave out from "House" to end and add instead thereof:
"disapproves of the Government's policy towards the Treaty of Lisbon in respect of human rights because of its incoherence and inconsistency on the status of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the United Kingdom;
notes that after the Intergovernmental Conference was agreed the previous Prime Minister told the House that "it is absolutely clear that we have an opt-out from both the Charter and judicial and home affairs";
notes that the Minister for Europe told the House when debating the Treaty of Lisbon that "the fact is that the United Kingdom has neither sought nor achieved an opt-out on the Charter of Fundamental Rights";
and calls on the Government to adopt a clear and consistent policy whose merits Parliament may then judge."
I am delighted that the Secretary of State opened the debate on behalf of the Government. I congratulate him on his speech, which was a masterpiece of obfuscation. Opposition Members admire the way in which he shimmies around any challenge to do with the substance of the charter of fundamental rights and the content of the treaty. To develop the image of Mrs. Dunwoody, we see the right hon. Gentleman as the Kyran Bracken of the Government front bench. It is not just his experience as Foreign Secretary that commends him to us. Conservative Members' regard for the right hon. Gentleman is only enhanced by knowing that it was he who bounced the former Prime Minister into promising a referendum on the European Constitution. After the French and Dutch votes he pledged that
"there will be no proposals made by this Government that seek to bring in this constitutional treaty, or elements of it, by the back door."—[ Hansard, 6 June 2005; Vol. 434, c. 1000.]
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
A proposed constitutional treaty for the European Union; its main goal is to unify the existing, overlapping set of treaties which provide the current constitution for the European Union.
The Constitution is based on the EU's two primary existing treaties, the Treaty of Rome (1957), and the Maastricht Treaty (1992), as modified by the more recent treties of Amsterdam and Nice; the need to consolidate was highlighted in the Treaty of Nice.
The treaty has been agreed by the heads from 25 member states, but must yet be ratified by member states. Different states have different requirements for ratification; in Ireland, all treaties are required by the constitution to be put to a referendum; whereas in Germany, referendums are constitutionally prohibited.
No article in the Constitution is completely new; Each is based either on a provision in existing treaties (some revised, some copied verbatim), or on a provision from the existing Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Most articles are identical in wording or spirit to their predecessors, others are differently presented, and some are significantly modified. The biggest changes include: A legal personality for the European Union (the European Community has always had one, and the structures will be merged into a single entity); explicit statement of the principle that the EU has no competences by right, and all rights it has are conferred by member states (purely a clarification - this has always been true); the EU may only act to exactly the extent needed to meet its objectives, and only where member states agree that the action of individual member states is insufficient; EU law takes primacy over the laws of member states where member states allow it to legislate (true since 1957), et al.
More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_establishing_a_constitution_for_Europe
The first bench on either side of the House of Commons, reserved for ministers and leaders of the principal political parties.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
The Opposition are the political parties in the House of Commons other than the largest or Government party. They are called the Opposition because they sit on the benches opposite the Government in the House of Commons Chamber. The largest of the Opposition parties is known as Her Majesty's Opposition. The role of the Official Opposition is to question and scrutinise the work of Government. The Opposition often votes against the Government. In a sense the Official Opposition is the "Government in waiting".
