Ignorance is not bliss for Chris Bryant

The controversial EU-US anti-terrorism data-sharing deal, named the Swift agreement, came under further attack yesterday as an almighty row broke out in the Commons. Labour’s very own Michael Connarty accused the government of treating Parliament with "disdain and contempt" by choosing to bypass the standard eight-week period given to the European Scrutiny Committee to examine such agreements, with Treasury Minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry asked to justify the Government's decision.

The Swift agreement allows the US authorities to access EU citizens’ bank transactions under the name of anti-terrorism. But whilst the Government claims the agreement will protect us from the threat of terrorist attacks we are left wondering, who is protecting us, the citizens, against attacks on our civil liberties?

The Lisbon Treaty was sold with the promise that it would strengthen national parliaments' ability to scrutinse EU legislation. This is a particular concern for matters concerning justice and home affairs where the UK can decide to 'opt in' to a proposal or not. Let us not forget, the negotiated 'opt in' was used by the Government to justify its decision to abandon the promised referendum on the Treaty.

PA report that Connarty, the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said he had been assured by ministers, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, that opt-ins would be subject to proper scrutiny. Connarty said that the SWIFT agreement was the first test of the Lisbon Treaty assurance and this was a "very bad start to the new process.”

But it's getting even worse.

In a public lecture at the LSE yesterday evening we asked Chris Bryant, the UK's Europe Minister, to comment on the day's debate in the Commons. And yet, to our surprise (and his), he wasn't even aware that the Commons debate had happened, remarking:

"What on earth does this have to do with Sarah McCarthy-Fry, I don't think this is right". Then calling to an assistant, he asked "Did Sarah McCarthy-Fry answer a question today?". He continued "I'm really perplexed about it because if anyone would be answering EU [questions] it should be me...I don't know if I can say much more."

With the Government so quick to ignore due Parliamentry process and the Minister for Europe totally unaware of what's going on, it’s sure time to recognise that democracy has not been strengthened by the Lisbon Treaty.

Luckily enough we have the episode on the dictaphone, so click here for a listen. Chris does sound very confused...

Hang on a sec

Our new Europe Minister Chris Bryant (the 12th Europe Minister in 12 years of Labour government, no less), has gone immediately on the attack, beginning his new job with an interview with the Sunday Telegraph in which he accused the Conservatives of lying about a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

He said:

"I think your readers will end up feeling deceived by Cameron over the question of a referendum. I would lay a very big wager that they will be very disappointed if there was a Cameron government, because they wouldn't end up having a referendum."

He said Cameron's pledge that he would "not let matters rest there" was deliberately ambiguous, and covered the fact that he would not be able to renegotiate. He said: "Either he's incompetent and he doesn't know this, or he knows and he's downright fibbing."

Now we realise the whole question of Cameron, will he, won't he, is very topical and sensitive at the moment (and here at OE we are waiting with bated breath - see here for roughly what we think they should do, which we are in the process of fleshing out further), but still, for a Labour Minister to try and grab the moral highground on this one is astounding.

It was Labour, you will remember, who promised a referendum on the Constitutional Treaty, indeed, in Gordon Brown's own words, on any treaty "that is acceptable for Britain," and went back on it, denying the people say, despite a poll of more than 130,000 people showing that 88% wanted a referendum. Only a complete hypocrite could now start accusing other people of leading the British people down the garden path on this one.

But that's not all. It now looks like as well as being a hypocrite he might actually be a bit of a fibber himself.

Last night on Newsnight, Bryant pompously corrected presenter Kirsty Wark for suggesting that the issue of candidates for the post of EU President will come up for discussion at the EU summit at the end of this week, as the Guardian (and countless others) have suggested.

Bryant said:

“I hate to correct Newsnight - I know politicians aren’t allowed to do that, but it’s quite possible that there won’t be any discussion at this week’s meeting because the job doesn’t yet exist. We haven’t had the final ratification from the Czech Republic.”

But with Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker telling Le Monde newspaper today that "If the call went out to me. I would have no reason to refuse to listen," it seems pretty hard to believe that this won't feature strongly on the agenda.

In fact, the good old French Foreign Office have today confirmed in no uncertain terms that the topic will be discussed this week. According to a press release this afternoon, asked if the French government is in favour of Juncker becoming EU President, the reply came:

"These questions will be discussed at the European Council at the end of the week."

Clear, simple and honest.

To be fair though, maybe it's because, as the Evening Standard reported yesterday, as a lowly parliamentary under-secretary of state, the lowest ministerial ranking there is, Bryant isn't going along to the European summit this week, and therefore isn't au fait on what's happening on his own patch.

Who knows.

don't get too comfortable

Chris Bryant has today been appointed Europe Minister, replacing Baroness Glenys Kinnock who spent a whole four months warming the seat for him. Bryant will be the 12th person to occupy this position in as many years - so much for continuity. With the endless staff switchovers in this portfolio the Government is starting to resemble one of those struggling football clubs that for one reason or another can't seem to hold on to a manager for more than a few months at a time.

Clearly, having an elected member of the House of Commons like Chris Bryant on the Europe job is far preferable to locking it away in the House of Lords where the Opposition can't have a proper pop at it and voters have no chance of holding it to account.

But this new appointment is by no means a net improvement on the current situation. Just to underline his seeming disregard for 'Europe' as an issue Gordon Brown has said that Bryant will remain a parliamentary under-secretary of state - the lowest ministerial rank in the government - meaning that the job, which was formerly held by a minister of state, has been downgraded. A Downing Street spokesman described the reshuffle as "housekeeping".

Once again this government shows just how out of touch it has became. Brown might not think Europe is important but the British public do - a YouGov poll from earlier this year showed that UK voters think that if a Conservative government is elected its second top priority should be to "Reduce the powers of the European Union and increase the powers of Britain’s Parliament."

In contrast, over on the other side of the benches Mark Francois, Bryant's shadow, sits in the Shadow Cabinet. Speaking at our fringe event at the party's conference last week, Francois welcomed the idea that the Minister for Europe should be a full Cabinet Minister, noting that under Labour, the role of Europe Minister had seemed to be “to tour the country, selling the EU to the British people”, rather than to fight the UK’s interests in Brussels.

Indeed the new appointment looks like a (fairly smart) political move from Brown, rather than one based on any long-term policy considerations. Replacing Kinnock in the Lords with Bryant in the Commons will give Brown a voice with which to attack the Tories over Europe and their new partners in the European Parliament - their favourite new topic. Judging by David Miliband's article in the Observer at the weekend the latter is set to be a major feature of Labour's campaign. Indeed Bryant has already written a similar article for a regional paper.

Bryant himself is a passionate EU advocate and will be an interesting addition to the debate - something which can't be said of many of his recent predecessors in this role (Flint, Murphy...)

But what does he actually stand for?

You won't get any clues from his website. The 'Policy' section is completely blank, having received far less attention than the 'photo gallery' where we get to see Bryant in his red speedos.

However, rarlier this year he told the Western Mail that, "I think the European Union has gone down some cul-de-sacs. The Common Agricultural Policy I would still like to see radically reformed, and we've got a bit obsessed with how many members of the Commission we each have."

We've heard lots about reforming the CAP from this government before and with very little to show for it, as we've argued before.

Bryant is in favour of maintaining the current system of EU regional spending, saying that "The question is whether repatriating large amounts of structural funds would open the door to a vast expansion of inappropriate state aid in the eastern bloc...we want to maintain a structural funds system that brings money not only to the poorest countries but to some of the richest countries."
This is worrying given the amount of money that is wasted funding dubious projects in some of the EU's richest countries. See here for just one example.

However, he has had some good ideas. For example he said that he is in favour of a specific parliamentary question time for EU matters, which would increase accountability and public awareness of EU decision-making. Thumbs up from us.

He has also called for the European Scrutiny Committee, which sifts through over a 1,000 EU documents a year, to meet in a more open and transparent way. And Bryant does seem to recognise the important role the EU plays in governing the UK, saying: "I do think that how we do the scrutiny of European business is absolutely essential to how we scrutinise the Government."

The question is whether he will able to take a breath from electioneering and attacking the Conservatives, or be around long enough to move beyond his recent predecessors and make any lasting mark in the job.