Referendum: European Union

Lord Davies of Stamford Excerpts

Monday 29th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

I agree completely with my noble friend.

[Lord Davies of Stamford]

My Lords, last week the Government faced deserved criticism and indeed derision on the farce of opting out of the justice and home affairs measures and then opting back in. Is it not equally absurd to decide now on a referendum in 2017 or on any other fixed date years ahead? An awful lot can happen between now and then. There might even be a new treaty—the Germans are already talking along those lines—that might be under negotiation in 2017, so we would not know what we were voting on. Is it not time for the Government to stop taking decisions on European policy that are illogical and do not make the slightest practical sense, but are simply based on attempts to pander to the eurosceptics in the Tory party and desperate attempts to try to retrieve the UKIP vote?

[Baroness Warsi]

I am glad the noble Lord has got that off his chest. He will recollect that the amount of support the Government had in relation to that particular opt-out was clear in relation to the majorities in both Houses.