Table Of ContentBritain in the European Union
Also by Philip Giddings
THE OMBUDSMAN, THE CITIZEN AND PARLIAMENT, 2002 (co-author with
Roy Gregory)
THE OMBUDSMAN: Present Practice and Future Prospects, 1995 (co-editor
with Roy Gregory and Victor Moore)
PARLIAMENTARY ACCOUNTABILITY: A Study of Parliament and Executive
Agencies, Macmillan, 1995 (editor for the Study of Parliament Group)
RIGHTING WRONGS: The Ombudsman in Six Continents, 2000 (co-editor
with Roy Gregory)
WESTMINSTER AND EUROPE: The Impact of the European Union on the
Westminster Parliament, Macmillan, 1996 (co-editor with Gavin Drewry)
Also by Gavin Drewry
THE CIVIL SERVICE TODAY, 2nd edn, 1991 (co-author with Tony Butcher)
FINAL APPEAL: A Study of the House of Lords in its Judicial Capacity, 1972
(co-author with Louis Blom-Cooper)
LAW, JUSTICE AND POLITICS, 2nd edn, 1981
LAW AND MORALITY, 1976 (co-editor with Louis Blom-Cooper)
THE LAW AND PARLIAMENT, 1998 (co-editor with Dawn Oliver)
LAW AND THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY, 1999 (co-editor with Charles Blake)
LEGISLATION AND PUBLIC POLICY, Macmillan, 1981 (co-author with
Ivor F. Burton)
THE NEW SELECT COMMITTEES, 2nd edn, 1989 (editor for the Study of
Parliament Group)
PUBLIC SERVICE REFORMS: Issues of Accountability and Public Law, 1996
(co-author with Dawn Oliver)
WESTMINSTER AND EUROPE: The Impact of the European Union on the
Westminster Parliament, Macmillan, 1996 (co-editor with Philip Giddings)
Britain in the European
Union
Law, Policy and Parliament
Edited by
Philip Giddings
Senior Lecturer in Politics
University of Reading
and
Gavin Drewry
Professor of Public Administration and
Director of the Centre for Political Studies,
Royal Holloway,
University of London
Selection and editorial matter © Philip Giddings and Gavin Drewry 2004
Chapters 1–11 © Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2004
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2004 978-1-4039-0451-5
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2004 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom
and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European
Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-4039-0452-2 ISBN 978-0-230-52315-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230523159
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Britain in the European Union:law, policy, and Parliament/edited by
Philip Giddings and Gavin Drewry.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. European Union—Great Britain. 2. International and municipal
law—Great Britain. 3. Constitutional law—Great Britain. 4. Great Britain.
Parliament. 5. Great Britain—Politics and government—1997–
I. Giddings, Philip James. II. Drewry, Gavin.
KD4015.B75 2004
342.41—dc22
2003067591
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Contents
Preface vii
Notes on Contributors x
1 Introduction 1
Gavin Drewry and Philip Giddings
2 Britain in Europe: Community to Union, 1973–2001 12
David Miers
3 Balancing Supremacy: EU Membership and
the Constitution 37
Alan Page
4 Parliamentary Scrutiny of Policy and Legislation:
The Procedures of the Lords and Commons 60
Priscilla Baines
5 Governance, Institutional Reform and Enlargement 97
Vaughne Miller and Carole Andrews
6 Employment Law and the Social Chapter 121
Julia Lourie
7 Westminster, EMU, and the Euro 145
Philip Giddings
8 Second Pillar Challenges: Foreign, Security and
Defence Policies 175
Richard Ware and Joanne Wright
9 Immigration and Asylum: Law and Policy in Action 199
Gavin Drewry, with Gabrielle Garton Grimwood
and Edward Wood
10 Devolution, Westminster and the EU 218
Alex Wright
11 Finding the Way Forward 240
Philip Giddings and Gavin Drewry
v
vi Contents
Appendix A: Chronology of/Key Events 256
Appendix B: Web links 260
Select Bibliography:Books, Chapters and Articles Cited 264
Index 268
Preface
This book has a long history, dating back to January 1990 when the
Study of Parliament Group decided to establish a study group on
Parliament and the European Community. The first product of that
study group’s work was Westminster and Europe, published by
Macmillan Press in 1996, and the early history of the project can be
found in the Preface to that volume, written by our colleague David
Millar, who was one of the original convenors of the study group.
The website of the Study of Parliament Group itself is http://
www.spg.org.uk/.
But even before the ink on that first publication was dry, it was
quite clear to the editors, and to all the other members of the team of
academics and parliamentary officers who contributed to Westminster
and Europe, that the continuing unfolding of events in Europe
following the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (roughly, the
cut-off point for the earlier book) meant that a successor volume
would soon be needed. The urgency of this was compounded by par-
liamentary changes in the UK – in particular the Blair Government’s
decision to set up a Scottish Parliament and a Welsh Assembly, exer-
cising devolved powers.
The study group was reconstituted and reconvened, with a sub-
stantial carry-over of membership from its predecessor – though with
some new faces, several of them co-opted from outside the member-
ship of the Study of Parliament Group, added to the team. This blend
of continuity and change (to use that rather hackneyed but apposite
phrase) enabled us to build upon the strengths of Westminster and
Europe but also to take on board new themes and a lot of fresh
material. We quickly abandoned early thoughts about producing a
mere second edition of the previous volume when the extent to
which the subject-matter and its context had changed made clear to
us that a completely new book would be necessary. We also decided,
in consultation with our publishers, to increase the book’s appeal to
lawyers, as well as to political scientists, by giving it a more explicitly
legal and constitutional flavour.
vii
viii Preface
The study group proceeded as before by holding two or three
meetings a year to plan the structure and content of a new book and
to benefit from the expert knowledge of specialist insiders (such as
the clerks and advisers to relevant parliamentary committees) who
came to address us. Our first acknowledgement of debt must be to
such behind-the-scenes contributors who generously gave up their
time to come and talk to the group and who often made themselves
available in other contexts to give invaluable information and
advice. Those who helped us in this way did so on a non-attributable
basis, which is why this acknowledgement is in impersonal terms.
And none of our advisers is in any way responsible for the contents
of the book.
It was noted in the Preface to Westminster and Europe that the book
had taken five years to come to fruition. The present book has been
similarly slow in production, and for similar reasons. Apart from the
familiar excuse of good intentions being thwarted by competing
pressures of time, some authors underestimated the sheer volume and
complexity of often highly technical subject-matter. And although
the general cut-off point for new material was the 2001 general
election, authors had in some contexts to update their material
beyond that point – and, from the editors’ point of view, the book
would have looked strangely truncated had we not taken on board
at least some aspects of the continuing debates surrounding
M.Giscard-d’Estaing’s Convention on Europe, or had we not noted
Chancellor Gordon Brown’s House of Commons statement on
9June 2003 about the prospects of the UK signing up to the single
currency. Even so, we were too late to take on board an important
report by the European Scrutiny Committee, The Convention on the
Future of Europe and the Role of National Parliaments (HC 63, 2002–03)
which came out in June 2003, just as the book was being finalised.
In this context we take the opportunity to thank our publishers,
Palgrave Macmillan, and particularly Alison Howson, for their
patience and, more generally, for their support and encouragement
for our project.
Finally, the editors must warmly thank all their fellow members
and associates of the study group without whose hard work and
expertise this book could not have been written. It would be invidious
to single out individuals in this context, but we must make an excep-
tion in naming Priscilla Baines and Richard Ware who, as well as
Preface ix
contributing as authors, gave us an enormous amount of invaluable
editorial help and advice. We are also very greatful to Christine Fretten
for providing a comprehensive listing of Parliamentary reports relating
to the European Union. This list is published on the SPG’s website.
The content of individual chapters and appendices is the responsi-
bility of their authors. The co-editors are responsible for all matters
of editorial policy, including the structure of the book as a whole,
and for the material in the chapters that bear their names as authors.
Although the book is the product of a study group of the Study of
Parliament Group, it does not purport to represent any corporate
views of the SPG.
Philip Giddings
Gavin Drewry
Note: In the interests of space, the predecessor to this book, Philip
Giddings and Gavin Drewry (eds), Westminster and Europe: The Impact
of the European Union on the Westminster Parliament is cited hereafter
as Westminster and Europe.
