§ 8.16 p.m.
§ Lord Bonham-CarterMy Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a third time.
This is a very appropriate moment to move the Third Reading of the Bill. After all, we have been discussing Europe for the whole of this afternoon. This little Bill of mine, which I put before your Lordships on 23rd March, is an attempt to change and reform the way in which Members of the European Parliament are elected. It is designed to provide the European Parliament with the maximum legitimacy and authority. In view of the discussions that we have had this afternoon, in which many noble Lords supposed that greater powers will be acquired by the European Parliament in the future, it is obviously a matter of importance both that it should have the maximum legitimacy and that British membership in that Parliament should be as representative as possible and not as distorted as it is under the present system.
Secondly, the Bill is an attempt to introduce a system that conforms more closely with Article 138 of the Treaty of Rome. That is now being looked at by a committee in Brussels, which, as I understand it, wholly approves of the Bill that I have put before your Lordships.
I very much regret that the noble Lord, Lord Underbill, is not with us tonight. I understand that he is ill. He conducted a rather difficult operation earlier in the passage of the Bill with the utmost skill and with his customary charm. I hope that he recovers very soon. I should like to take the opportunity of thanking noble Lords who assisted in the passage of the Bill. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Bill be now read a third time.—(Lord Bonham-Carter.)
§ On Question, Bill read a third time, and passed, and sent to the Commons.