asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Triesman on 18 July (WA 173), which stated that “there are no decisions now taken in the legal fora of the United Kingdom which were formerly taken in the legal fora of the European Union”, when they became aware that the answer on 6 June (Official Report, col. 1131) that “there has been a certain ebb and flow between decisions taken in the legal fora of Europe and those taken here” was not wholly correct.[HL7104]

The Government became aware on 15 June 2006, following the noble Lord’s Question, that the noble Lord, Lord Tebbit, had understood my intervention in the debate in the House of 6 June differently from the way in which I had. As I said on 6 June, there is a strong desire under the provisions for subsidiarity to see our Parliament take as many decisions as it can, and we have argued strenuously that those decisions that we regard as being within our sovereign right should remain in the UK. We will continue to do so. My reference to the “ebb and flow” of decisions had, of course, to be understood in the context that I provided in the debate and which I have repeated here and in my Answer to the noble Lord on 18 July (WA 173).