European Affairs

Part of Orders of the Day – in the House of Commons at 5:52 pm on 18 June 2008.

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Photo of Malcolm Rifkind Malcolm Rifkind Conservative, Kensington and Chelsea 5:52, 18 June 2008

My hon. Friend has indicated this evening, as he has done on other occasions, that his objective is a renegotiation of the treaty. He does not explicitly say that he calls for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, but he must know as well as the rest of us that if he wishes in any form—even after a renegotiation—for the United Kingdom to remain in a European Union, the Union must at least have some element of supranational identity. He has indicated that he would not support any supranational dimension to the EU. Have I misunderstood him, because if I have not, he is talking not about a renegotiation but about withdrawal?