mr president thank you very much for giving me this opportunity
i think it has been an interesting debate whatever one's view is on the european project and on the lisbon treaty
there have been lots of references to old men and old fossils but let me talk about it from the perspective where i sit
to me i see an older generation of politicians here stuck in a mindset of the nineteen fifties stuck very much in a nineteen fifties solution to problems and challenges that the world faces
if you look across the chamber you see much older people all speaking out in favour of the lisbon treaty all condemning those people of ireland and other countries who voted no to the original constitution and voted no to the lisbon treaty
we even see old men of arms now talking about putting down your guns and speaking for peace
yes in the nineteen fifties that was a post-war solution to what had gone on before but we must keep moving with the world
when you talk about democratic accountability let us not forget one thing
when we started with the constitution the rules were that every country had to ratify it or it fell
when we started with the lisbon treaty the rules were the same every country had to ratify it or it fell
so let us not push ahead with the lisbon treaty until every country has ratified it
if you really want a proper democratic debate let the people of britain have a choice
do they want the vision that mr corbett proposes of a federal united states of europe or a looser free trade vision of a europe that my party supports
