Mr George Robertson: I have little time to make my speech. I cannot give way to the Minister, who keeps bouncing up and down all the time. I make clear and repeat what my right hon. Friend the Member for Gorton said this afternoon, amidst the hubbub of Conservative members. Our objectives for the political union IGC are clear. We support the social charter and the social action programme. We favour majority...
Mr George Robertson: I shall make progress with my speech. It would be impossible to wind up the debate without mentioning the right hon. Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher). [HON. MEMBERS: "Where is she?"] I understand that the right hon. Lady informed the Chair that she would be slightly delayed in returning for the wind-up speeches because she is attending a dinner in honour of the late Ian Gow—a friend and...
Mr George Robertson: Sources close to the Foreign Secretary said that he was slightly agitated by a comment from Jacques Delors, who was not even a member of the intergovernmental conference. As has been said in the debate, "federal" is a trigger word which is confusing and heavy with conflicting symbolism signifying different things to different people. That is why it does not appear in any of the declarations...
Mr George Robertson: rose—
Mr George Robertson: rose—
Mr George Robertson: Not enough.
Mr George Robertson: What would happen if a treaty partner, the Soviet Union for example, designated an area of Cheltenham that includes GCHQ? Would there be a command inspection of the facilities there? Would that be possible for members of the Red army, before it was possible for Members of this House?
Mr George Robertson: I agree with all the arguments that the right hon. Gentleman has advanced. He quoted the Prime Minister in aid of his argument. Is he as surprised as I was to learn that No. 10 Downing street has been briefing the press to the effect that the Prime Minister has not ruled out the possibility of a referendum in some future Parliament?
Mr George Robertson: This will be a marathon debate by modern standards, but it will not be as lengthy as the five-day debate in 1971 on the decision to enter the EC. However, that was before my time. Today's important debate centres on a crucial issue facing the country. One major change from the circumstances of 1971 is the sheer speed and scale of current events. Today, nothing is set in stone. Every day old...
Mr George Robertson: I am reminded of the words of our good friend, Gregor Mackenzie, who in a legendary intervention once said to the hon. Member for Moray (Mrs. Ewing) that the only thing that the hon. Lady and he had in common was that neither of them knew what she was talking about. I feel in precisely the same position, and am beginning to realise why the Tory Whips turned out so many people the other night...
Mr George Robertson: Or fortunately, as the case may be. The right hon. Gentleman may be concocting more instant policy. I do not expect my good friend, the hon. Member for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber (Sir R. Johnston), to defend the amazing new idea about a referendum that has come from his party, which used to be so in favour of Europe. It strikes me that never has so much been changed by so few for so little.
Mr George Robertson: Why should we not deal directly with Europe? Why should a Scottish Parliament, which will be set up by the future Labour Government, not deal directly with Europe? If it is good enough for the federal German Lander, surely it is good enough for Scotland and for other parts of the United Kingdom. If I give way to the hon. Lady in future, I hope that she will not damage my future career by...
Mr George Robertson: I think that I have given way too often already.
Mr George Robertson: I have not, and I have no intention of doing so. A man with the hon. Gentleman's sense of timing could perhaps resume his seat for a little longer. The choice is that of shared power or no power. It is a simple choice, but it is not an empty one. The power that we share is in our own tomorrow too. It is within institutions that we can participate to preserve our best and to leave the rest in...
Mr George Robertson: The hon. Gentleman has allowed failure to go to his head. It would be wise to say it. When there was talk about a single currency, there was no talk about William Cash. The former Chancellor, the right hon. Member for Blaby, was quoted in the Evening Standard this week as saying: In these circumstances a crude 'No' to the EMU Treaty would be pointless, since it would not stop the others from...
Mr George Robertson: Of course, ultimately. It has to be ultimately. They could not come in tomorrow, and they would not want to come in tomorrow on those terms. But the Government have still not said an official word about the application from Austria, which was submitted formally a year ago. It will have to be a more democratic Community, where the powers already ceded by national Parliaments will be...
Mr George Robertson: In an article in the Evening Standard last week, the right hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Lawson) concluded by saying that the Prime Minister should sign the economic and monetary union treaty at Maastricht because it was open to the other 11 members to go ahead with the treaty on their own. I put to the right hon. Member for Blaby, who has an intellectual reputation, a question that was put to...
Mr George Robertson: How can that be forced?
Mr George Robertson: Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr George Robertson: rose——