THE all-party Commons European legislation committee, known as the scrutiny committee, wants more information about proposed legislation from Brussels.

Apparently, official English translations about EU legislation sometimes arrive months late, and written in French.

If MPs don't get sufficient information what hope is there for the rest of us? Often people's knee-jerk reaction to EU proposals is based on lack of sufficient detailed knowledge. The scrutiny committee have declared they will not clear a document for which they do not have an official text and that seems fair enough.

Brussels, and Whitehall, must provide the appropriate papers in plenty of time for the committee to consider them. The committee cannot be expected to rubber stamp documents without sufficient information.

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