§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what advantages Her Majesty's Government are seeking to gain through agreeing to qualified majority voting in certain areas of the Treaty of Nice. [140280]
§ Mr. VazQMV has delivered a range of measures which the UK has backed but would not have secured if others had had a veto, for example in the single market.
Where more QMV is in the UK's interests, we will back it. But where it is not, we will retain unanimity.
§ Mr. RedwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when the Government will set out its detailed response to the most recent draft of the proposed Treaty of Nice. [140278]
§ Mr. VazThe Presidency published a Progress Report on the Intergovernmental Conference on 3 November. It is a draft composite text setting out drafting changes for most IGC issues (though not the rewieighting of votes, size and structure of the Commission or the allocation of seats in the European Parliament). The Government's position on all IGC issues is set out in the White Paper laid before the House on 15 February, and updated on numerous occasions since then, most recently in its response to the Foreign Affairs Committee's Report on the IGC (which was published as a Command Paper on 27 October). I refer the right hon. Member to these.
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