Europe Minister Jim Murphy recently gave “a guarantee that parliament can scrutinise the Lisbon Treaty” (mainly because he knows however much its members scrutinise the document they cannot amend even a single word of it and victory is assured by whip).
Last night the government’s timetable for the debate was passed and MPs will now receive just 12 days to undertake their minute, line-by-line inquiry of the treaty. Actually, as pointed out by William Hague, MPs will get less than a minute, line-by-line, to do so.
In fact just 45 seconds per line will be provided over the 12 days, which is a shame as it will give less opportunity for such comedic moments as this, when Hague appealed directly to the PM to consider the ironic personal implications of the Treaty’s ratification.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Cj1b-rp1E
Plus a rather more serious reminder of how OUR government continues to deny us our democratic rights, as perfectly summed up by Tony Benn.