Sovereignty and eternal truth
Tory supporters who are wary of Brussels have had lean pickings from the coalition government so far.
Today the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, promised them that the sovereignty of the British Parliament would be placed on the statute book for the first time. He told the Conservative Party conference that the clause on EU Law would underline "this eternal truth: what a sovereign parliament can do, a sovereign parliament can also undo".
On one level this changes very little. The existing relationship between British and European law will not be altered. What it will make clear is that EU directives only take effect by the will of Parliament.
The principle of parliamentary sovereignty is currently rooted in common law. The intention of the new legislation is to put beyond speculation where ultimate sovereignty lies.
In future it will not be possible to argue in a British court that ultimate sovereignty has shifted to the EU. This was the issue that lay behind , when Steve Thoburn faced a charge for selling bananas by the pound.
Today was intended to reassure Conservatives that the government was not weakening over its previous commitments. In November 2009 David Cameron had promised a Sovereignty Bill. "This is not about Westminster striking down individual items of EU legislation," he said then. "It is about an assurance that the final word on our laws is here in Britain."
It puts Britain in a similar position to Germany, where and that ultimate authority lies with the bodies established by the German constitution.
For both countries it is a question of drawing a line in the sand and saying to Brussels: "thus far but no further".
William Hague said the government's approach to Europe would be "hard-headed", supporting "determined action, not institutional empire-building".
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