Asked by: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the UK within the EU returns to the UK Parliament any competences that are presently conferred on the EU by Title 1 of Part One of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The deal agreed at the February European Council delivers a binding commitment that the Treaties will be changed in the future so that the UK is carved out of ‘ever closer union’. It ensures that the UK will not be liable for eurozone bailouts or discriminated against in the Single Market, and that the Treaties will be changed to reflect that. It establishes a new mechanism for the European Council to review EU legislation every year to see what can be done better at the national level and what can be dropped altogether. It ensures that Parliament will be able, acting with others in Europe, to block unwanted new EU laws. The deal also secures new powers to tackle the abuse of free movement and reduce the unnatural draw of our benefits system, to meet our aim of reducing immigration, by creating fairer rules, while protecting our open economy.
Asked by: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether it would be consistent with the policy and objectives of the European Communities Act 1972 to notify the European Council of their intention to withdraw from the EU without prior approval by an Act of Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The European Communities Act 1972 does not require prior approval of actions by Act of Parliament. The European Union Act 2011 does define some circumstances where this is required, but these do not include a notification under article 50. As the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), said on 22 February, “if the British people vote to leave, there is only one way to bring that about, namely to trigger Article 50 of the Treaties and begin the process of exit, and the British people would rightly expect that to start straight away."Asked by: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Section A of the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, concerning a new settlement for the UK within the EU imposes an obligation on the UK not to veto the new EU Treaty planned as part of the Five Presidents’ Report <i>Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union</i>, published in June 2015.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Any Treaty revisions to implement the proposals for reform in the Five Presidents’ Report would have to be concluded in accordance with the provisions in the Treaties, which require unanimous agreement by Member States. The agreement of and ratification by the UK and any new EU treaty or of any revision to the existing EU Treaties would be subject to the provisions of the European Union Act 2011.Asked by: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a decision under Article 9 of Protocol (No 15) to the EU Treaties would require approval (1) by an Act of Parliament, and (2) by a referendum.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Under the EU Act 2011, a decision by the UK under Protocol (No 15) leading to a decision by the Council under article 140 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union would require an Act of Parliament and a referendum result in favour before a Minister of the Crown could support it.
Asked by: Lord Hamilton of Epsom (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether a member state can withdraw from the EU under (1) a Treaty agreed to under the ordinary revision procedure pursuant to Article 48 of the Treaty on European Union, or (2) under Article 54(b) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
As the Government noted in its publication “The process for withdrawing from the European Union” (Command Paper 9216), the rules for exit are set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This is the only route available in the EU Treaties to withdraw from the EU.