§ Mr. Bernard JenkinTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what measures he will take to protect the United Kingdom from EC regulations which his Department assesses to be damaging to United Kingdom interests. [5816]
§ Mr. NelsonThe Government resist all legislative proposals from the EC which would in any way damage United Kingdom interests. All proposals are subject to a rigorous scrutiny, assessing the extent to which they might pose burdens on business.
The opt-out from the social chapter which my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister secured at Maastricht has already protected the UK from a number of potentially damaging social policy measures. As the House was told on 12 November, we shall insist that the intergovernmental conference addresses the issues raised by the European Court of Justice judgment on the working time directive. That means both ensuring that the directive itself no longer affects the United Kingdom and securing measures to prevent any other "social engineering" directives being forced on the United Kingdom by similar manoeuvres.