George Eustice MP proposed that the Government opts out of 130 justice and home affairs EU measures before our power to do so is lost.
Speaking in a parliamentary debate yesterday on just one such measure, Mr Eustice argued that this was a good opportunity for Britain to repatriate powers from the EU without necessitating a treaty change. The Government is required to make a decision on all of these measures before 2014, after which it will be impossible to opt out of these measures under the terms of the Lisbon Treaty.
Yesterday's measure concerned data protection and was bought to the House of Commons despite the full government risk assessment not being complete, and interim reports suggesting that adoption of the measure could be both costly and counter-productive.
Mr Eustice said, "We should have gathered all the evidence together before making this decision. We must question why we are being asked to make this decision tonight, when all the information is not before us. The answer is that there is an arbitrary EU timetable that says that we have to make the decision by the middle of May. This is exactly what is wrong with the European Union: we are presented with these matters, but we are not given time to gather the evidence that we need before we are bounced into making a decision. That is a complete mistake."
To read the whole debate, click here.