The Government, therefore, welcomes the EU (Scrutiny) Bill which is intended to place the essential thrust of the new procedures on a legislative basis. I pay tribute again to the Labour Party which initiated the Bill. We have been happy to work with it and others in reshaping the Bill to achieve an optimal level of accountability while, at the same time, enabling the Government to operate in the Council with the degree of flexibility necessary to ensure that the interests of the country are fully protected.