Time for the peers to prove their worth. Are they still a worthwhile feature of parliamentary democracy or another failed enterprise into which taxpayers pour endless amounts of their hard-earned money? Time will tell. Tomorrow, they vote over whether this country should have its referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
Tory peers are in a perfect position, defending the referendum on basic democratic grounds. Lib Dem and Labour will be forced to vote against the referendum and it simply won't do either of them much of a favour.
Of interest is how crossbencher Lord Neill of Bladen instigated a significant battle on the powers of the European Court of Justice on Monday evening. By putting down Amendment No. 27, Lord Neill indicated his wishes that “the Court of Justice of the European Union shall not have jurisdiction with respect to the provisions in the treaties relating to the common foreign and security policy” and that “the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union does not extend the ability of the Court of Justice of the European Union … to find that the laws, regulations or administrative provisions, practices or action of the United Kingdom are inconsistent with the fundamental rights, freedoms and principles that it reaffirms.” All of those issues were covered in our (the European Foundation's staff) report.
Astonishingly, the amendment only lost the vote by a small margin: 172 votes to 188. If the referendum can carry as much support, then it is clearly possible something could be done. And we wouldn’t have to simply rely on the Irish voting against it tomorrow.
