Phil Bennion, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – Madam President, the complexity of re-registration of cars when one moves abroad is certainly a concern for European Union citizens and I have actually received letters myself from constituents who have struggled with this issue in the past. The European Union is not just about the big issues of fighting climate change, fighting crime, boosting the economy, but we also have to work together to get a better deal for our citizens on things like solving problems such as difficulties in re-registering cars.

I agree with the Commissioner that this is also a blockage to the single market. However, we have seen, as Ms[nbsp ]Stihler has just said, people to the right of the House, particularly in the United Kingdom – and I do absolve Mr[nbsp ]Harbour from this accusation entirely – running scared of UKIP and jumping on a story in the Daily Mail and Daily Express which said that there was an EU plot to axe UK number plates.

To my horror, I heard this story myself repeated on national radio – on the most popular stations on national radio – on Friday morning over breakfast and I thought what is going on here? I had a look at what was going on and I found that actually there was an innocuous amendment suggesting that sometime in the future we might look at some of these ideas: thinking out loud almost, looking for ways of addressing the problem.

The Liberal Democrats believe that a common EU number plate is completely unnecessary, but that is not the point: the story in the British press was completely wrong and I hope the British press will recognise that. The scaremongering of some of Malcolm’s colleagues – not Malcolm, I do impress on you – over a vague suggestion shows that their real struggle is to have a clear message on Europe.