"On the very point that the Foreign Secretary has just made, has he noticed that an increasing number of EU member states are looking enviously at the deal that Britain has managed to secure—I will leave the qualitative judgment to others—and seeing that this is a route that they want …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"First, the only party that has ever given the British people a choice in a referendum on our membership of the European Union, or the EEC as it was at the time, is the Labour party. Secondly, the promise to which the hon. Gentleman refers was on the EU constitution, …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Ribble Valley (Mr Evans). Very little of what he said did I agree with, but I appreciate the way he presented it.
Like some Members around the Chamber, the hon. Gentleman will remember the late Eric Forth, who was the …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"If I have time, I shall come on to that, but I broadly agree with the hon. Gentleman’s point, because it does have validity right across the argument. As the hon. Member for Ribble Valley said, there are those who say they love their country and want to vote out …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"I would not take such an absolutist view. The British people may or may not be right—that is a matter for a higher judgment—but, as a democrat, I believe that, whatever they vote for, it is incumbent on the Government and Parliament to abide by it. If in later years …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
I do not think that the deal that the Prime Minister came back with will be the key determinant of this argument. Rather, it is going to be about people’s overall impression of the EU and of Britain’s place in Europe and …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"As a fellow member of the all-party parliamentary group on Ukraine, does the hon. Gentleman agree that although the Ukrainian Government are under a huge amount of pressure, particularly from Russia, they will never make progress through repression and the suppression of human rights and democratic values?..." Jim Dowd - View Speech
"If letting the people have their say is so important, why is it that of all the Conservative Governments who have ever existed, only one—this one, forced by the Liberals to offer a referendum on the alternative vote—have ever given the people of Britain a referendum on anything? Devolution, regional …..." Jim Dowd - View Speech