Brendan Ryan (Labour)

People who were strangers to us are suddenly on first name terms and that creates a whole new culture. It is the creation of that whole new culture that makes the anomalies I have just teased out easy to handle. Twenty or 25 years ago, when we were perhaps less secure in our own identity and self-confidence, the practical implications of what we are now doing would probably have generated enormous amounts of heat. There is no problem now because we have grown up and moved on. I presume that our working with the EU has got us used to the idea of shared sovereignty and other such things.