EU Constitution — 8 Jun 2005 at 18:45

This division occurred at the end of a Conservative opposition motion on the proposed Constitutional Treaty of the European Union. The Conservatives proposed a motion as follows:

That this House, in the light of the rejection of the EU Constitution by the French and the Dutch people, urges the Government to make clear its intention not to ratify the EU Constitutional Treaty, and instead to pursue a policy of a more decentralised and deregulated Europe, better suited to serving the people of Europe.

The Government proposed an amendment which would replace the entire text of the motion so that it would read:

That this House endorses the Statement of 6th June by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which set out the Government's response to the results of the French and Dutch referenda on the EU Constitutional Treaty; recognises that discussions will now take place on the future of the Constitutional Treaty between European leaders collectively; and agrees that the EU should uphold the concept of subsidiarity and pursue greater flexibility and better regulation, and continue the contribution it has made to peace, democracy and prosperity over recent decades for the benefit of the people of Europe.

The question in the division was whether the original wording should remain. Those voting Aye were therefore supporting the original wording. Those voting No were disagreeing with the original wording, although not necessarily agreeing with the amended wording.

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