Lisbon Treaty — Parliamentary approval required for any future changes made to the Treaty of Lisbon — rejected — 19 May 2008 at 20:12

The majority Not-Contents rejected an amendment[1] to the European Union (Amendment) Bill. This would have sought to ensure that Parliament would be able to scrutinise any future amendments to the Treaty of Lisbon made by the government and, in particular, any amendments that could have a direct effect on UK laws. However, it was defeated.

In moving the amendment Lord Hunt of Wirral explained that:[2]

  • 'References to the European Community are to be replaced with references to the European Union. On the face of it, that seems a simple process, until one looks at the context in which all these changes are to be made. Looking at the speeches of many Members of the other place, one is concerned about how wide-ranging these changes might become and about the wonderful law of unintended consequences. There is therefore a good case for Parliament to be involved in scrutinising the changes.'

However, Lord Bach argues that:[3]

  • 'This order-making power is necessary to avoid any legal uncertainty as a result of changes to terminology. The negative resolution procedure is appropriate in this case. Otherwise each House would have to approve every single such consequential change. We believe that we have got it right. Clause 3 avoids that exhaustive—not to say exhausting—exercise. As a safeguard against the unlikely event that this or a future Government would try to exceed the very limited power to make orders set out in the clause, it is clearly provided that any orders are subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.'

The European Union (Amendment) Bill implements the Lisbon Treaty into UK law. The main aims of the Lisbon Treaty were to[4]:

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Debate in Parliament | Source |

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Party Summary

Votes by party, red entries are votes against the majority for that party.

What is Tell? '+1 tell' means that in addition one member of that party was a teller for that division lobby.

What is Turnout? This is measured against the total membership of the party at the time of the vote.

PartyMajority (Not-Content)Minority (Content)Turnout
Bishop1 04.0%
Con1 43 (+2 tell)22.5%
Crossbench8 46.4%
Independent Labour0 1100.0%
Lab70 (+2 tell) 032.6%
LDem28 137.2%
UKIP0 2100.0%
UUP1 0100.0%
Total:109 5122.8%

Rebel Voters - sorted by party

Lords for which their vote in this division differed from the majority vote of their party. You can see all votes in this division, or every eligible lord who could have voted in this division

Sort by: Name | Party | Vote

NamePartyVote
Lord Tugendhat Conno
Viscount Craigavon Crossbenchaye
Lord Greenway Crossbenchaye
Lord Monson Crossbenchaye
Lord Neill of BladenCrossbenchaye
Lord Burnett LDem (front bench)aye

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