European Union (Withdrawal) Bill - Report (4th Day)

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 8:00 pm on 30 April 2018.

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Photo of Lord Balfe Lord Balfe Conservative 8:00, 30 April 2018

My Lords, it is always a pleasure to agree with people from the Labour Party. I certainly agree with that final remark: it would be nice if the Labour Party’s policy were a little clearer. I have known—I would not say that I have had the pleasure of knowing—the Leader of the Opposition all the time he has been in politics. I cannot recall a single occasion, from the referendum in 1975 through all the treaties, when he has supported anything to do with Europe. I suspect that part of the reason for the difficulties of the Opposition today is this squabble at the top. The feeling among one or two leading Members of the Labour Party is wanting to stay in the European Union—certainly in the customs union—and the feeling right at the top is, “over my dead body”. I ask the Opposition to start supposing; that would be a big step forward.

I rose to speak because I put my name to both of the amendments. I want to look at the role of the European Parliament in particular. We talk about parliamentary sovereignty but two Parliaments are involved in this. I listened to what was said by the noble Lord, Lord Hamilton, but we are negotiating not with 27 countries, but the European Parliament, which has a position, and the Council, which has a position and, through Monsieur Barnier, someone to pull that position together. Amendment 52 says,

“prior to the ratification of the withdrawal agreement by the European Parliament”.

Amendment 49 is slightly better worded, in my view, because it says,

“debated and voted on before the European Parliament has debated and voted on the draft withdrawal agreement”.

Although I put my name to Amendment 52, I concede that Amendment 49 has a better form of words. We cannot assume that the European Parliament will go along with the position of Mr Barnier. The European Parliament has its own rapporteur on withdrawal: Mr Guy Verhofstadt, whose job is to reach a common position in Parliament.

In Brussels on Wednesday evening, the Bureau of the European Parliament—its political decision-maker and equivalent of the Cabinet—will devote its entire meeting to the Brexit strategy and where it thinks it should go. What are we doing to get the European Parliament on our side? I know that we are visiting lots of capitals, but not that long ago, I spoke to a Foreign Minister from one of the middle-sized, new European countries. Everybody talks about Brexit, so I asked him, “What do you want?” He said, “Well, I think we’ll follow Berlin, unless there’s a particular local interest”. I asked him why and he said, “They’re putting all the intellectual drive behind this. We’re demanders, not payers into the European Union and we think Berlin will get us a good deal out of these negotiations”. So, I counsel people, “Don’t think that you can go round Europe and split them”. Even the Hungarians—the only people to join us in voting against Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission—are not particularly inclined to move and come to an independent position to help the Brits, because they see their national interest as getting in with the other 27. I do not think that we should underestimate that. As far as the 27 are concerned—this is true in Parliament as well—we are leaving. We are going through the door. They are all going to be left in there together, and they are not going out of their way to cause trouble. Virtually every country in the EU has a vested interest in the solidarity of the European Union’s position in these negotiations.

When this comes to the European Parliament it will have some demands—and I know not what they are—to make of Barnier. There will be a common position. Barnier will be at the meeting on Wednesday. I am sure he will report on his visit to Ireland at the beginning of this week and you will see a European Parliament position emerging.

It is very good that we mention prior to the votes in the European Parliament in Amendment 49 because this is where Amendment 62 is useful. It gives a signpost. It says what will happen and that it happens only if the House of Commons declines to approve. At that point, before the European Parliament has agreed to the deal, we say that we would like to maintain the existing position and extend the period set out under Article 50—something that can be done only by a unanimous decision of the Council, but one on which the Parliament would be consulted. The European Parliament will have a consultation role and, frankly, if it has rejected the extension, I doubt the Council will go down the road of granting it.

I say to my colleagues on the Front Bench, please put some work into explaining your position to the European Parliament. We could start with slightly closer relations with the MEPs who represent the United Kingdom. There does not appear to be, shall I say, a high degree of collaboration and consultation between the two sets. I know that Richard Corbett has been here to give evidence but I think we need to put in a bit more work in the European Parliament and I invite the Minister to tell us what the Government’s strategy is to get the European Parliament on side.

I finish by saying that Amendment 62 is not trying to do anything outrageous. It is setting a very simple signpost. It comes into effect only if the House of Commons—not the House of Lords—declines to approve and then it says quite clearly what happens. It asks for the status quo and an extension of time so that something else can be worked out. I think Amendment 62 is very reasonable. I would even hope that the Government might think about accepting it because it offers us a way forward. I hope that we will feel able to take it.