Gerard Batten (EFD). – Madam President, the Council decision adopts the UN Security Council Resolution. Let me quote it: ‘To take all necessary measures to protect the civilians and civilian-populated areas under threat of attack in Libya, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory’.

That single sentence contains two completely contradictory ideas. How do you protect civilians from attack without occupying any piece of territory in order to do so? How can nations with long and illustrious military histories, such as Britain and France, adopt such a nonsensical policy? The answer to that is simple: they are bound to do so by the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, as a result of the Lisbon Treaty. They no longer control their own foreign policy.

The Council decision goes on to say that responsibility for the Union’s military policy lies with the High Representative of Common Foreign and Security Policy. So Baroness Catherine Ashton will have the opportunity to wage her first war and put her name up there with the greats of military history such as Rommel, Montgomery and Eisenhower. Well good luck to her, but what is more likely to happen is that this idiotic policy results in disaster for all concerned.

The priorities of the West, and the European countries in particular, should be to encourage moderate regimes in North Africa by all diplomatic means, and to protect our own borders from further mass migration flows. That may not be the politically correct answer, but it is a realistic one from sensible nation states, were they able to take those decisions.