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Robert Key: I mean to ensure that the Minister does not have 13 minutes to reply. I am glad that the hon. Member for Lewes tabled the amendment, because it allows us to probe important aspects of the marine environment that will be affected by energy extraction and development in coming years. For some years now, I have been a member of the Royal Society's pairing scheme with university science...
John Maples: My hon. neighbour and friend can do much better than that. The constitution advances the competences of the Union and qualified majority voting. There is currently a veto over foreign affairs and defence positions. Taxation is not even a competence. Some aspects of taxation could become the subject of qualified majority voting. The passerelle clause, or whatever one wants to call it, allows...
Nicholas Soames: Commanders were unaware of where equipment was stored; plates for enhanced ceramic body armour "disappeared" and never got to the right units; and vital biological and chemical equipment was "deemed unserviceable". Not enough desert clothing and equipment was available on time, and many people did not even receive their desert combats until the war was over. There was not enough ammunition,...
Gerald Howarth: It was indeed. I speak French and German, which slightly undermines those who have accused me of being a little Englander. My hon. Friend the Member for West Suffolk drew attention to the Government's woeful failure to protect Britain's essential national interests in the European Union, and he touched on defence—a subject on which, the House will not be surprised to learn, I intend to...
Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank: My Lords, like others, I want to pay tribute to the very considerable achievements of our servicemen and women over the past few months, particularly those who have been in Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone. As always, they have risen to the challenges and not been found wanting under the most difficult and often dangerous conditions. I have two major concerns. First, we are hearing that the...
John Maples: I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to make provision for holding a binding referendum on any Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe before any Bill relating to the Treaty is presented to Parliament. I do not know how many Members of this House are aware of just how enthusiastic the Government are about referendums. If we were all taking part in a session of "Who...
Sir Sydney Chapman: Precisely—that is what the Secretary of State said in the debate last week. As it is now almost five years since the St. Malo declaration, which spawned the European security and defence policy, will the Secretary of State say which European country has increased its defence expenditure; or is it more likely that none has?
Mike Hancock: ...any thoroughness. I have already said that I shall be disappointed if the Government do not ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to dealing with that problem. The hon. Member for New Forest, East (Dr. Lewis) is right to emphasise that issue and I hope that Ministers will listen hard to what is said. In examining Europe today, we should reflect on how NATO has changed in response...
Lord Wallace of Saltaire: My Lords, we on these Benches also extend our best wishes to the Prime Minister after the unfortunate incident yesterday and hope that he will be fully recovered. We welcome the Statement. I note that the conclusions had a good deal more on the Lisbon agenda and the growth initiative than is provided in the Statement. If I may make a marginal correction to the Statement, the recent report of...
Jack Straw: With permission, Mr. Speaker, I should like to make a statement about the European Council, which the Prime Minister and I attended last Thursday and Friday—16 and 17 October. I saw the Prime Minister earlier this afternoon. I am pleased to tell the House that he is in very good form and fully recovered from yesterday. [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."] At the summit in Brussels, European Union...
Bernard Jenkin: When the Prime Minister came back from launching the ESDP at St. Malo four years ago, the excuse given for it was that it was the only way to encourage European nations to contribute to additional defence capability. During those four years, defence spending in the European Union has continued to decline. Only France and Britain have marginally increased their defence spending, France rather...
Beverley Hughes: ...detection technology at ports in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Ireland. In France, we have deployed technology in Calais and Coquelles and negotiations on deployment are at an advanced stage with the ports of Dunkirk, Cherbourg, Le Havre and Caen, and preliminary scoping visits have been made to Dieppe, Roscoff and St. Malo. At Calais there is the capability to screen 100 per cent....
Mark Hendrick: ...later in my speech I shall discuss minimum income guarantees, which will become the norm across the European Union and would have addressed the very point that he makes. Enlargement will enhance stability and security in Europe. Europe has been the centre of the two largest wars ever; millions of lives have been lost. We now have an historic opportunity to bring peace and security to...
Lord Howell of Guildford: asked Her Majesty's Government: How the new proposals for a core European defence entity, as announced by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, relate to the St Malo accord between the United Kingdom and France.
Iain Duncan Smith: The reality of not being involved with the others, as the Prime Minister rightly says, is the fact that he started this whole process at St. Malo years ago. He now has seen and will witness the fact that he has become a spectator while others shape the Euro army to break NATO, so he has no one to blame but himself. It is clear from yesterday that the Germans want a separate budget, that the...
Lord Lea of Crondall: ...I, too, congratulate the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, on introducing this very important debate, even though I do not accept some of his key arguments. I shall come to that in a moment. The main thrust of my remarks will be on the theme that G8 conditionality is now inescapable if the crisis in Africa is not to become chronic. The World Bank millennium development goals document refers to...
Bernard Jenkin: First, it is astonishing that the Government had to be dragged to the Dispatch Box to discuss a major international crisis in NATO instead of voluntarily making a statement. It is even more astonishing that the Secretary of State did not come to the House yesterday, when we asked for a statement, instead of scuttling out of the country, albeit on legitimate business, to avoid...
Don Touhig: I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ogmore (Huw Irranca-Davies) on securing the debate. He has long taken a keen interest in renewable energy and, in particular, the proposals for the Severn tidal barrage. I had planned to say more about renewable energy, but time prevents me from doing much on that front. Members will be aware that the Minister for Energy and Construction cannot be...
Bill Cash: I do, but I also notice that Mr. Haider has not given up. The circumstances that I described are more likely to lead to difficulties in the future, which will not be confined to the countries that we have mentioned. I have great respect for the many European countries that have done fantastically well in developing their democracies. However, those democracies may not all be as deeply rooted...
Richard Spring: I apologise to the hon. Gentleman, and will read what he said in Hansard with great interest. Two years ago, before Nice, the then Secretary of State talked about the extension of qualified majority voting by the French presidency. He ruled it out in advance and said that the vast majority of proposals were unacceptable. In practice, as we have seen time and time again with this Government,...
