Member

As the noble Baroness pointed out, under this regime, not only are we not worthy of the right to stand for election to make the laws to which we are subject, but we are not even worthy of the right to be consulted. We have to stand here and read this Explanatory Memorandum that basically says, “The law has to be imposed, so what would be the point of having a consultation?” While it is profoundly demeaning, I have to say that I agree with the drafters of the Explanatory Memorandum, but, crucially, that does not take me to the place of saying that this is okay. It is not okay. It forces us back to the underlying injustice that we need to confront, which is that it is simply wrong to submit a nation to a foreign law-making Parliament in which it is not represented. I suspect that every right-thinking Member of this House today—and I take it that all Members are right-thinking—will take that point clearly and will not need me to put it up in photographs or anything else, and I appreciate that.