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Mr. Marlow: Will my right hon. and learned Friend give way?
Mr. Rifkind: No. May I continue?
It is important to understand that the IGC will not cover the whole waterfront. I do not expect, for example, that there will be substantive discussion of the common agricultural policy. The treaty provisions on the CAP do not present a legal barrier to the liberal, market-driven policy that we want. We shall pursue the necessary reforms vigorously outside the conference. They cannot be evaded, given the prospect of enlargement and the next round of World Trade Organisation agricultural negotiations, which will continue to require EU reform.
Mr. Michael Lord (Central Suffolk):
The last time that we had such a conference, and discussions such as this, a package was brought back to the House that many of us found totally unacceptable, and into which we had had no input whatever. Will my right hon. and learned Friend assure the House today that, during the prolonged
Mr. Rifkind:
My hon. Friend has raised an important principle. At the moment, we are in some disagreement with the European Parliament, because the United Kingdom and France are refusing to allow it to become a party to the negotiations. We intend to insist on that, and I am delighted that France is again a strong supporter of the United Kingdom's position.
I entirely accept that national Parliaments and the European Parliament have a right to be kept informed on the progress of the negotiations. I can certainly assure the House that any opportunities given to the European Parliament must also be given to the national Parliaments, so as to ensure proper consideration.
Sir Peter Tapsell (East Lindsey):
Does my right hon. and learned Friend realise that that reply is totally unacceptable, and that we will expect him to come regularly to the House and report on his negotiations? They are bound to drag on beyond the next general election; the serious negotiation will not start until then, because some may hope that after the election they will have a Labour Government to deal with.
Mr. Rifkind:
I have no difficulty with what my hon. Friend says. In fact, that is exactly what I thought I was saying, and I am happy to reassure him and the House as a whole that we have every intention of reporting to the House on the progress of the negotiations on a regular basis. That is what I thought I was saying, but if it needs further clarification, I am happy to provide some.
Mr. Rifkind:
The coming intergovernmental--
Mr. Marlow:
My right hon. and learned Friend said that he would give way to me.
Mr. Rifkind:
I did; it is true.
Hon. Members:
That is the third time.
My right hon. and learned Friend sets great store by the rule of law; we all do. But in this House we also set great store by democracy. If through democracy we cannot get what the British people want, how then can we achieve things?
Mr. Rifkind:
I think that Parliament will always come to its own good judgment in time if it believes that the vital interests of the United Kingdom are not being properly respected. The final decision will be taken by this Parliament, as has happened in the past and as I am sure will continue to happen in the future.
Mr. Rifkind:
The coming intergovernmental conference needs to be kept in proportion. It will address
Mr. Robin Cook (Livingston):
It would be churlish to begin without congratulating the Foreign Secretary on the straight bat with which he has fielded so many helpful interventions from the Government Back Benches. However, the confidence that he has expressed in the Government's position would have been more convincing if the Government had acceded to the request that I believe was made by both Opposition parties, to table a motion supporting their White Paper, to which we could have tabled an amendment.
As I sat through the right hon. and learned Gentleman's speech over the past 40 minutes, I rather suspected that the reason why the Government did not table a motion was patently before us: it would have taxed even the skills of the Foreign Secretary to produce a motion that all Conservative Members could have voted for tonight.
Mr. Marlow:
What about your side?
Mr. Cook:
We offered to table an amendment if the Government would table a motion. Had we been able to table an amendment, I assure the hon. Gentleman that we would have divided the House on it.
One does not need to be a conspiracy theorist to suspect that the debate has been arranged for today, after such a major statement on Northern Ireland, precisely so that fewer Members will be able to take part, and fewer people outside will know what has been said to the Foreign Secretary in the House.
However, in the comparative privacy that the Government have given us for the debate, we can talk frankly to each other. Let me begin not with the Foreign Secretary's White Paper but with ours, which the Labour party presented to its conference six months ago and which, I am pleased to say, was passed unanimously. [Laughter.] I do not see why Conservative Members find that the least bit hilarious. I presented the White Paper to my conference and my conference passed it unanimously. I shall be extremely interested to see whether the Foreign Secretary dares to submit his White Paper to his conference--and, if he does, whether it gets a unanimous vote there.
Our starting point--
Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham)
rose--
Mr. Cook:
I shall give way to the right hon. Gentleman, of course.
Mr. Redwood:
If the hon. Gentleman is so confident of the unity of the Labour party, why has he not tabled a motion in Labour party time so that we can see this fabled unity for ourselves?
Mr. Cook:
We tabled a motion in our time last year and I would not rule out tabling another motion in our time this year. We look forward to the right hon. Gentleman giving his considered support should we choose to take his advice and table such a motion.
The starting point for our White Paper is that we are in the European Union and we are in to stay. We have no intention of seeing it develop into a supranational state.I would not go so far the Foreign Secretary when he addressed the House as a Back Bencher and said:
I do not believe that with him.
We rule out, and always have ruled out, a United States of Europe. We believe that the peoples of Europe would rule that out. We want a Europe of nation states coming together of their own free will. We do not want to centralise more powers in Brussels. Indeed, it is the thrust of our policy to devolve power to the regions and nations of Britain, not to centralise powers up from Whitehall.
However, we must co-operate with our partners in Europe. Europe is our largest market. It is the largest reason for inward investment in Britain. When my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition visited Japan and addressed the Japanese equivalent of the CBI, he did not receive a single question about the minimum wage or the social chapter--those King Charles's heads that Conservative Members like to kick around the Chamber. The questions that he received were all about the security of Britain's commitment to Europe, because it is on that that future Japanese investment in this country depends.
Such investment is a two-way flow, because, despite all the concerns of Conservative Members about howthe social chapter on the continent diminishes competitiveness, since the social chapter was signed by the nations of the continent, investment by British companies in those countries with the social chapter has been at a record all-time high.
Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough and Horncastle):
Is it possible that the Leader of the Opposition received so many questions on the security of our membership of the European Community because the position of the Labour party on that issue changed at least five times?
"directly elected membership of a European Assembly brings us one step nearer a United States of Europe. That may be a good thing,as I believe".--[Official Report, 7 July 1977; Vol. 934, c. 1503.]
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